BV  4501  .M8  M3 

Murray,  Andrew,  1828-1917 

The  Master's  indwelling 


The  MASTER'S  Indwelling 


By  Rev.  Andrew  Murray 

Author  of ''With  Christ  in  the  School  of  Prayer  ^  etc. 


'That  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith" 
Eph.  III.  17 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

CHICAGO  NEW  YORK  TORONTO 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature 


Copyrighted,  1896,  by  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 


The  following  papers  were  in  substance 
delivered  by  the  author  in  a  series  of  addresses 
at  the  Northfield  Conference  of  1895,  but  later 
rewritten  and  revised  by  him  for  this  permanent 
and  authorized  publication. 


CONTENTS 


I.  Carnal  Christians i 

II.  The  Self  Life -       -       -        26 

III.  Waiting  on  God  '39 

IV.  Entrance  into  Rest 49 

V.  The  Kingdom  First -    6i 

VI.  Christ  Our  Life 72 

VII.  Christ's  Humility  Our  Salvation  -  -  -  -  87 
VIII.  The  Complete  Surrender  -----      lOO 

IX.  Dead  with  Christ ii4 

X.  Joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost i3i 

XI.  Triumph  of  Faith  - 146 

XII.  The  Source  of  Powcr  in  Prayer  -  -  -  -  .  i56 
XIII.  That  God  May  Be  All  in  All     -       -       -       .        -  i67 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS. 
I. 

2  Corinthians  J :  i. — Audi,  brethren,  could  not  speak  unto 
you  as  unto  spiritual,  but  as  unto  carnal. 

THE  apostle  here  speaks  of  two  stages  of  the 
Christian  life,  two  types  of  Christians:  "I  could 
not  speak  unto  you  as  unto  s-piritual^  but  as  unto 
carnal,  even  as  unto  babes  in  Christ."  They  were 
Christians,  in  Christ,  but  instead  of  being  spiritual 
Christians,  they  were  carnal.  "I  have  fed  you 
with  milk,  and  not  with  meat,  for  hitherto  ye  were 
not  able  to  bear  it,  neither  yet  are  ye  able,  for  ye 
are  yet  carnal."  Here  is  that  word  a  second  time. 
"For  whereas"—  this  is  the  proof  — "there  is  among 
you  envying,  and  strife,  and  divisions,  are  ye  not 
carnal,  and  walk  as  men?  For  while  one  saith,  I 
am  of  Paul,  and  another,  I  am  of  Apollos,  are  ye  not 
carnal?"  Four  times  the  apostle  uses  that  word 
carnal.  In  the  wisdom  wbich  the  Holy  Ghost 
gives  him,  Paul  feels: —  I  ci^n  not  write  to  these 
Corinthian  Christians  unless  I  know  their  state, 
and    unless  I  tell    them  of  it.     If  I  give    spiritual 

7 


8  CARNAL  CHRISTIANS 

food  to  men  who  are  carnal  Christians,  I  am  doing 
them  more  harm  than  good,  for  they  are  not  fit  to 
take  it.  I  cannot  feed  them  with  meat,  I  must 
feed  them  with  milk.  And  so  he  tells  them  at  the 
very  outset  of  the  epistle  what  he  sees  to  be  their 
state.  In  the  two  previous  chapters  he  had  spoken 
about  his  ministry  being  by  the  Holy  Spirit;  now 
he  begins  to  tell  them  what  must  be  the  state  of  a 
people  in  order  to  accept  spiritual  truth,  and  he 
says:  "I  have  not  liberty  to  speak  to  you  as  I 
would,  for  you  are  carnal,  and  you  cannot  receive 
Spiritual  truth."  That  suggests  to  us  the  solemn 
thought,  that  in  the  Church  of  Christ  there  are 
two  classes  of  Christians.  Some  have  lived  man}^ 
years  as  believers,  and  yet  always  remain  babes; 
others  are  spiritual  men,  because  they  have  given 
themselves  up  to  the  power,  the  leading  and  to  the 
entire  rule  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  If  we  are  to  obtain 
a  blessing,  we  must  lirst  decide  to  which  of  these 
classes  we  belong.  Are  we,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  in  deep  humility  living  a  spiritual  life,  or 
are  we  living  a  carnal  life?  Then,  let  us  first 
try  to  understand  what  is  meant  by  the  carnal 
state  in  which  believers  may  be  living. 

We  notice  from  what  we  find  in  Corinthians,  four 
marks  of  the  carnal  state.  First;  It  is  simplj^  a  con- 
dition of  protracted  infancy.  You  know  what  that 
means.  Suppose  a  beautiful  babe,  six  months  old. 
It   cannot   speak,   it  cannot  walk,  but  we  do    not 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS  9 

trouble  ourselves  about  that;  it  is  natural,  and 
ought  to  be  so.  But  suppose  a  year  later  we  find 
the  child  not  grown  at  all,  and  three  years  later  still 
no  growth  ;  we  would  at  once  say :  "There  must  be 
some  terrible  disease;"  and  the  baby  that  at  six 
months  old  was  the  cause  of  joy  to  everyone  who 
saw  him,  has  become  to  the  mother  and  to  all  a 
source  of  anxiety  and  sorrow.  There  is  something 
wrong  ;  the  child  can  not  grow.  It  was  quite  right  at 
six  months  old  that  it  should  eat  nothing  but  milk; 
but  years  have  passed  by,  and  it  remains  in  the 
same  weakly  state.  Now  this  is  just  the  condition 
of  many  believers.  They  are  converted;  they 
know  what  it  is  to  have  assurance  and  faith;  they 
believe  in  pardon  for  sin ;  they  begin  to  work  for 
God;  and  yet,  somehow,  there  is  very  little  growth 
in  spirituality,  in  the  real  heavenly  life.  We  come 
into  contact  with  them,  and  we  feel  at  once  there 
is  something  wanting;  there  is  none  of  the  beauty 
of  holiness  or  of  the  power  of  God's  Spirit  in  them. 
This  is  the  condition  of  the  carnal  Corinthians, 
expressed  in  what  was  said  to  the  Hebrews:  "You 
have  had  the  Gospel  so  long  that  by  this  time  you 
ought  to  be  teachers,  and  yet  you  need  that  men 
should  teach  you  the  very  rudiments  of  the  oracles 
of  God."  Is  it  not  a  sad  thing  to  see  a  believer 
who  has  been  converted  five,  ten,  twenty  years, 
and  yet  no  growth,  and  no  strength,  and  no  joy 
of  holiness? 


10  CARNAL  CHRISTIANS 

What  are  the  marks  of  a  little  child?  One  is, 
a  little  child  cannot  help  himself,  but  is  always 
keeping  others  occupied  to  serve  him.  What  a 
tyrant  a  baby  in  a  house  often  is!  The  mother 
cannot  go  out,  there  must  be  a  servant  to  nurse  it; 
it  needs  to  be  cared  for  constantly.  God  made  a 
man  to  care  for  others,  but  the  baby  was  made  to 
be  cared  for  and  to  be  helped.  So  there  are 
Christians  who  always  want  help.  Their  pastor 
and  their  Christian  friends  must  always  be  teach- 
ing and  comforting  them.  They  go  to  church,  and 
to  prayer- meetings,  and  to  conventions,  always 
wanting  to  be  helped,  — a  sign  of  spiritual  infancj-. 

The  other  sign  of  an  infant  is  this:  he  can  do 
nothing  to  help  his  fellow-man.  Every  man  is 
expected  to  contribute  something  to  the  welfare  of 
society;  every  one  has  a  place  to  fill  and  a  work 
to  do,  but  the  babe  can  do  nothing  for  the  com- 
mon weal.  It  is  just  so  with  Christians.  How 
little  some  can  do!  They  take  a  part  in  work,  as 
it  is  called,  but  there  is  little  of  exercising  spiritual 
power  and  carrying  real  blessing.  Should  we 
not  each  ask,  "Have  I  outgrown  my  spiritual  in- 
fanc}'?"  Some  must  reply,  "No,  instead  of  hav- 
ing gone  forward,  I  have  gone  backward,  and  the 
joy  of  conversion  and  the  first  love  is  gone." 
Alas!  They  are  babes  in  Christ;  they  are  yet 
carnal. 

The  second  mark   of  the  carnal    state   is    this: 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS  11 

that  there  is  sin  and  failure  continually.  Paul 
says:  "Whereas  there  is  strife  and  division  among 
you,  and  envying,  are  ye  not  carnal?"  A  man 
gives  way  to  temper.  He  may  be  a  minister,  or  a 
preacher  of  the  Gospel,  or  a  Sunday-school  teach- 
er, most  earnest  at  the  prayer-meeting,  but  yet 
strife  or  bitterness  or  envying  is  often  shown  by 
him.  Alas!  Alas!  In  Gal.  3:  5  we  are  told  that 
the  works  of  the  flesh  are  specially  hatred  and  envy. 
How  often  among  Christians,  who  have  to  work 
together,  do  we  see  divisions  and  bitterness!  God 
have  mercy  upon  them,  that  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit, 
which  is  love,  is  so  frequently  absent  from  His 
own  people.  You  ask,  "Why  is  it,  that  for  twenty 
years  I  have  been  fighting  with  my  temper,  and 
can  not  conquer  it?"  It  is  because  you  have  been 
fighting  with  the  temper,  and  you  have  not  been 
fighting  with  the  root  of  the  temper.  You  have 
not  seen  that  it  is  all  because  you  are  in  the  carnal 
state,  and  not  properly  given  up  to  the  Spirit  of 
God.  It  may  be  that  you  never  were  taught  it; 
that  you  never  saw  it  in  God's  Word;  that  you 
never  believed  it.  But  there  it  is;  the  truth  of 
God  remains  unchangeable.  Jesus  Christ  can 
give  us  the  victory  over  sin,  and  can  keep  us  from 
actual  transgression.  I  am  not  telling  you  that 
the  root  of  sin  will  be  eradicated,  and  that  you 
will  have  no  longer  any  natural  tendency  to  sin; 
but  when  the  Holy  Spirit  comes  not  only  with  His 


12  CARNAL  CHRISTIANS 

power  for  service  as  a  gift,  but  when  He  comes  in 
Divine  grace  to  fill  the  heart,  there  is  victory  over 
sin;  power  not  to  fulfill  the  lusts  of  thefiesh.  And 
you  see  a  mark  of  the  carnal  state  not  only  in  un- 
lovingness,  self-consciousness  and  bitterness,  but 
in  so  many  other  sins.  How  much  worldliness, 
how  much  ambition  among  men,  how  much  seek- 
ing for  the  honor  that  comes  from  man  —  all  the 
fruit  of  the  carnal  life  —  to  be  found  in  the  midst  of 
Christian  activity!  Let  us  remember  that  the  car- 
nal state  is  a  state  of  continual  sinning  and  failure, 
and  God  wants  us  not  only  to  make  confession  of 
individual  sins,  but  to  come  to  the  acknowledg- 
ment that  they  are  the  sign  that  we  are  not  living 
a  healthy  life,  — we  are  yet  carnal. 

A  third  mark  which  will  explain  further  what 
I  have  been  saying,  is  that  this  carnal  state  may 
be  found  in  existence  in  connection  with  great 
spiritual  gifts.  There  is  a  difference  between  gifts 
and  graces.  The  graces  of  the  Spirit  are  humility 
and  love,  like  the  humility  and  love  of  Christ. 
The  graces  of  the  Spirit  are  to  make  a  man  free 
from  self;  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  are  to  fit  a  man 
for  work.  We  see  this  illustrated  among  the-Cor- 
inthians.  In  the  first  chapter  Paul  says,  "I  thank 
God  that  you  are  enriched  unto  all  utterance,  and 
all  knowledge,  and  all  wisdom."  In  the  12th  and 
14th  chapters  we  see  that  the  gifts  of  prophecy 
and    of   working   miracles   were   in   great   power 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS  13 

among  them ;  but  the   graces   of  the   Spirit  were 
noticeably  absent. 

And  this  may  be  in  our  days  as  well    as   in  the 
time  of  the    Corinthians.     I  may  be  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel;  I  may  teach  God's  Word  beautifully; 
I  may  have  influence,  and  gather  a  large  congre- 
gation, and  yet,  alas!  I  may  be  a  carnal  man;  a 
man   who   may   be   used    by  God,  and    may  be  a 
blessing  to  others,  and    yet    the   carnal   life   may 
still  mark  me.     You  all  know  the  law  that  a  thing 
is  named  according  to  what  is    its  most  prominent 
characteristic.     Now,  in  these  carnal  Corinthians 
there  was  a  little   of  God's   Spirit,  but  the  flesh 
predominated;  the  Spirit  had  not  the  rule  of  their 
whole  life.      And  the  spiritual  men  are  not  called 
so  because  there  is  no  flesh  in  them,  but   because 
the  Spirit  in   them   has   obtained    dominance,  and 
when  you  meet  them  and  have    intercourse  with 
them,  you  feel  that  the  Spirit  of  God  has  sanctified 
them.     Ah,  let  us  beware   lest  the   blessing   God 
gives  us    in   our    work   deceive  us  and  lead  us  to 
think  that  because  he   has   blessed  us,  we  must  be 
spiritual  men.     God  may  give  us  gifts  that  we  use, 
and  yet  our  lives  may  not  be  wholly  in   the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

My  last  mark  of  the  carnal  state  is  that  it  makes 
a  man  unfit  for  receiving  spiritual  truths.  That  is 
what  the  apostle  writes  to  the  Corinthians:  "I 
could  not  preach  to  you  as  unto  spiritual;  you  are 


14  CARXAL  CIIRISTIAXS 

not  fit  for  spiritual  truth  after  being  Christians  so 
long;  you  can  not  yet  bear  it;  I  have  to  feed  you 
with  milk."  I  am  afraid  that  in  the  church  of  the 
nineteenth  century  we  often  make  a  terrible  mis- 
take. We  have  a  congregation  in  which  the  ma- 
jority are  carnal  men.  We  give  these  men  spirit- 
ual teaching,  and  they  admire  it,  understand  it, 
and  rejoice  in  such  ministry;  yet  their  lives  are 
not  practically  affected.  They  work  for  Christ  in 
a  certain  way,  but  we  can  scarce  recognize  the 
true  sanctification  of  the  Spirit;  we  dare  not  say 
they  are  spiritual  men,  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Now,  let  us  recognize  this  with  regard  to  our- 
selves. A  man  may  become  very  earnest,  may 
take  in  all  the  teaching  he  hears;  he  ma}^  be  able 
to  discern,  for  discernment  is  a  gift;  he  may  say, 
"That  man  helps  me  in  this  line,  and  that  man  in 
another  direction,  and  a  third  man  is  remarkable 
for  another  gift;"  yet,  all  the  time,  the  carnal  life 
ma}^  be  living  strongly  in  him,  and  when  he  gets 
into  trouble  with  some  friend,  or  Christian  worker, 
or  worldly  man,  the  carnal  root  is  bearing  its  ter- 
rible fruit,  and  the  spiritual  food  has  failed  to  en- 
ter his  heart.  Beware  of  that.  Mark  the  Cor- 
inthians and  learn  of  them.  Paul  did  not  say  to 
them,"  You  can  not  bear  the  truth  as  I  would  speak 
it  to  you,"  because  they  were  ignorant  or  a  stupid 
people.  The  Corinthians  prided  themselves  on 
their  wisdom,  and  sought  it  above  everything,  and 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS  15 

Paul  said:  "I  thank  God  that  you  are  enriched  in 
utterance,  in  knowledge,  and  in  wisdom ;  never- 
theless, you  are  yet  carnal,  your  life  is  not  holy; 
3'our  life  is  not  sanctified  unto  the  humility  of  the 
life  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  you  can  not  yet  take  in 
real  spiritual  truth." 

We  find  the  carnal  state  not  only  at  Corinth, 
but  throughout  the  Christian  world  to-day.  Many 
Christians  are  asking,  "What  is  the  reason  there 
is  so  much  feebleness  in  the  Church?"  We  can 
not  ask  this  question  too  earnestly,  and  I  trust  that 
God  Himself  will  so  impress  it  upon  our  hearts 
that  we  shall  say  to  Him,  "It  must  be  changed. 
Have  merc}?  upon  us."  But,  ah!  that  prayer  and 
that  change  can  not  come  until  we  have  begun  to 
see  that  there  is  a  carnal  root  ruling  in  believers; 
they  are  living  more  after  the  flesh  than  the  Spirit; 
they  are  yet  carnal  Christians. 

There  is  a  passage  "from  carnal  to  spiritual." 
Did  Paul  find  any  spiritual  believers?  Undoubtedly 
he  did.  Just  read  the  6th  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians!  That  was  a  church  where  strife, 
and  bitterness,  and  envy  were  terrible.  But  the 
apostle  says  in  the  first  verse:  "Brethren,  if  a 
man  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  ye  which  are  spiritual 
restore  such  an  one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness." 
There  we  see  that  the  marks  of  the  spiritual  man  are 
that  he  will  be  a  meek  man;  and  that  he  will  have 
power,  and  love  to  help  and  restore  those  that  are 


18  CARNAL  CHRISTIANS 

fallen.  The  carnal  man  can  not  do  that.  If  there 
is  a  true  spiritual  life  that  can  be  lived,  the  great 
question  is:  Is  the  way  open,  and  how  can  I  en- 
ter into  the  spiritual  state?  Here,  again,  I  have 
four  short  answers. 

First,  we  must  know  that  there  is  such  a  spirit- 
ual life  to  be  lived  by  men  on  earth.  Nothing  cuts 
the  roots  of  the  Christian  life  so  much  as  unbelief. 
People  do  not  believe  what  God  has  said  about 
what  He  is  willing  to  do  for  His  children.  Men 
do  not  believe  that  when  God  says,  "Be  filled  with 
the  Spirit,"  He  means  it  for  every  Christian.  And 
y^\  Paul  wrote  to  the  Ephesians  each  one:  "Be 
filled  with  the  Spirit,  and  do  not  be  drunk  with 
wine."  Just  as  little  as  you  may  be  drunk  with 
wine,  so  little  may  you  live  without  being  filled 
with  the  Spirit.  Now,  if  God  means  that  for  be- 
lievers, the  first  thing  that  we  need  is  to  study, 
and  to  take  home  God's  Word,  to  our  belief  until 
our  hearts  are  filled  with  the  assurance  that  there  is 
such  a  life  possible  which  it  is  our  duty  to  live; 
that  we  can  be  spiritual  men.  God's  Word  teaches 
us  that  God  does  not  expect  a  man  to  live  as  he 
ought  for  one  minute  unless  the  Hol}^  Spirit  is  in 
him  to  enable  him  to  do  it. 

We  do  not  want  the  Holy  Spirit  only  when  we 
go  to  preach,  or  when  we  have  some  special 
temptation  of  the  devil  to  meet,  or  some  great  bur- 
den to  bear;  God    says:  "My  child  can  not  live  a 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS  17 

right    life   unless  he  is  guided  by  my  Spirit  every 
minute."  That  is  the  mark  of  the  child  of    God: 
"As  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they 
are  the    sons  of  God."     In  Romans  V.  we  read: 
"The  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  given  unto  us."    That  is  to  be  the 
common,    every-day   experience  of  the   believer, 
not  his  life  at  set  times  only.      Did  ever  a  father 
or  mother  think,  "For  to-day  I  want  my  child    to 
love  me?"     No,  they  expect  the  love  every  day. 
And  so  God  wants  His  child  every  moment  to  have 
a  heart  tilled  with  love  of  the  Spirit.      In  the  eyes 
of  God,  it  is    most   unnatural  to  expect  a  man  to 
love  as  he  should  if  he  is  not  filled  with  the  Spirit. 
Oh,  let  us  believe  a  man  can  be   a   spiritual  man. 
Thank  God,  there  is  now  the  blessing  waiting  us. 
"Be  filled  with  the  Spirit."  "Be  led  by  the  Spirit." 
There  ^5  the  blessing.     If  you  have  to  say,  "Oh, 
God,  I  have    not  this    blessing,"  say  it;  but    say 
also,  "Lord,  I  know   it   is   my   duty,  my    solemn 
obligation  to  have  it,  for  without  it  I  can  not  live 
in  perfect  peace  with  Thee  all  the  day;  without  it 
I   can   not   glorify  Thee,    and  do  the   work  Thou 
wouldst    have  me  do."    This  is  our  first  step  from 
carnal  to  spiritual,  —  to  recognize  a  spiritual  life,  a 
walk  in  the  Spirit,  is  within  our  reach.     How  can 
we  ask  God  to  guide  us    into    spiritual  life,  if  we 
have  not  a  clear,  confident  conviction  that  there  is 
such  a  life  to  be  had? 


^S  CARNAL  CHRISTIANS 

Then  comes  the  second  step;  a  man  must  see 
the  shame  and  guih  of  his  having  lived  such  a  life. 
Some  people  admit  there  is  a  spiritual  life  to  live, 
and  that  they  have  not  lived  it,  and  they  are  sorry 
for  themselves,  and  pity  themselves,  and  think, 
"How  sad  that  I  am  too  feeble  for  it!  How  sad 
that  God  gives  it  to  others,  but  has  not  given  it  to 
me!"  They  have  great  compassion  upon  them- 
selves, instead  of  saying,  "Alas!  it  has  been  our 
unfaithfulness,  our  unbelief,  our  disobedience,  that 
has  kept  us  from  giving  ourselves  utterly  to  God. 
We  have  to  blush  and  to  be  ashamed  before  God 
that  we  do  not  live  as  spiritual  men." 

A  man  does  not  get  converted  without  having 
conviction  of  sin.  When  that  conviction  of  sin 
comes,  and  his  eyes  are  opened,  he  learns  to  be 
afraid  of  his  sin,  and  to  flee  from  it  to  Christ,  and 
to  accept  Christ  as  a  mighty  deliverer.  But  a  man 
needs  a  second  conviction  of  sin;  a  believer  must 
be  convicted  of  his  peculiar  sin.  The  sins  of  an 
unconverted  man  are  different  from  the  sins  of  a 
believer.  An  unconverted  man,  for  instance,  is 
not  ordinaril}?-  convicted  of  the  corruption  of  his 
nature ;  he  thinks  principally  about  external  sins,  — 
"I  have  sworn,  been  a  liar,  and  I  am  on  the  v^^ay 
to  hell."  He  is  then  convicted  for  conversion. 
But  the  believer  is  in  quite  a  different  condition. 
His  sins  are  far  more  blamable,  for  he  has  had 
the  light  and    the    love    and    the    Spirit    of  God 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS  19 

given  to  him.  His  sins  are  far  deeper.  He  has 
striven  to  conquer  them  and  he  has  grown  to  see 
that  his  nature  is  utterl}^  corrupt,  that  the  carnal 
mind,  the  flesh,  within  him,  is  making  his  whole 
state  utterly  wretched.  When  a  believer  is  thus 
convicted  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  is  specially  his 
life  of  unbelief  that  condemns  him,  because  he 
sees  that  the  great  guilt  connected  with  this  has 
kept  him  from  receiving  the  full  gift  of  God's  Holy 
Spirit.  He  is  brought  down  in  shame  and  confu- 
sion of  face,  and  he  begins  to  cry:  "Woe  is  me,  for 
I  am  undone.  I  have  heard  of  God  by  the  hearing 
of  the  ear;  I  have  known  a  great  deal  of  Him 
and  preached  about  Him,  but  now  mine  eye  seeth 
Him."  God  comes  near  him.  Job,  the  righteous 
man,  whom  God  trusted,  saw  in  himself  the  deep 
sin  of  self  and  its  righteousness  that  he  had  never 
seen  before.  Until  this  conviction  of  the  wrong- 
ness  of  our  carnal  state  as  believers  comes  to  each 
one  of  us ;  until  we  are  willing  to  get  this  conviction 
from  God,  to  take  time  before  God  to  be  humbled 
and  convicted,  we  never  can  become  spiritual  men. 
Then  comes  the  third  mark,  which  is  that  out 
of  the  carnal  state  into  the  spiritual  is  only  one 
step.  One  step;  oh,  that  is  a  blessed  message  I 
bring  to  you  —  it  is  only  one  step.  I  know  many 
people  will  refuse  to  admit  that  it  is  only  one  step; 
they  think  it  too  little  for  such  a  mighty  change. 
But  was  not  conversion  only  one  step? 


20  CARNAL  CHRISTIANS 

So  it  is  when  a  man  passes  from  carnal  to  spirit- 
ual. You  ask  if  when  I  talk  of  a  spiritual  man  I 
am  not  thinking  of  a  man  of  spiritual  maturity,  a 
real  saint,  and  you  say:  "Does  that  come  in  one 
day?  Is  there  no  growth  in  holiness?"  I  reply 
that  spiritual  maturity  cannot  come  in  a  day.  We 
can  not  expect  it.  It  takes  growth,  until  the  whole 
beauty  of  the  image  of  Christ  is  formed  in  a  man. 
But  still  I  say  that  it  needs  but  one  step  for  a  man 
to  get  out  of  the  carnal  life  into  the  spiritual  life. 
It  is  when  a  man  utterly  breaks  with  the  flesh ; 
when  he  gives  up-  the  flesh  into  the  crucifixion 
death  of  Christ;  when  he  sees  that  everything 
about  it  is  accursed  and  that  he  can  not  deliver 
himself  from  it;  and  then  claims  the  slaying  power 
of  Christ's  cross  within  him,  — -it  is  when  a  man 
does  this  and  says:  "This  spiritual  life  prepared 
for  me  is  the  free  gift  of  my  God  in  Christ  Jesus," 
that  he  understands  how  one  step  can  bring  him 
out  of  the  carnal  into  the  spiritual  state. 

In  that  spiritual  life  there  wall  be  much  still  to 
be  learned.  There  will  still  be  imperfections. 
Spiritual  life  is  not  perfect;  but  the  predominant 
characteristic  will  be  spiritual.  When  a  man  has 
given  himself  up  to  the  real,  living,  acting,  ruling 
power  of  God's  Spirit,  he  has  got  into  the  right 
position  in  which  he  can  grow.  You  never  think 
of  growing  out  of  sickness  into  health;  you  may 
grow  out  of  feebleness   into    strength,  as  the  little 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS  21 

babe   can   grow   to   be  a  strong   man ;  but    where 
there  is  disease,  there  must  healing  come  if  there 
is   to  be  a  cure   effected.     There    are   Christians 
who   think  that   they  must  grow  out  of  the  carnal 
state  into  the  spiritual  state.   You  never  can.   What 
could  help  those  carnal  Corinthians?  To  give  them 
milk  could  not  help  them,  for  milk  was  a  proof  they 
were  in   the   wrong    state.     To    give    them  meat 
would  not  help  them,  for  they  were  unfit  to  eat  it. 
What  the}^  needed  was    the  knife  of  the  surgeon. 
Paul  says   that   the   carnal   life    must   be  cut  out. 
''They  that  are  Christ's  have  crucified  the  flesh." 
When  a  man  understands  what  that  means,  and  ac- 
cepts it  in  the  faith  of   what   Christ    can    do,  then 
one  step    can   bring  him  from  carnal  to    spiritual. 
One  simple  act  of  faith  in    the    power  of  Christ's 
death,  one  act  of    surrender   to   the   fellowship   of 
Christ's  death  as  the  Holy  Spirit  can  make  it  ours, 
will  make  it  ours,  will  bring  deliverance  from  the 
power  of  your  efforts. 

What  brought  deliverance  to  that  poor  con- 
demned sinner  who  was  most  dark  and  wretched 
in  his  unconverted  state?  He  felt  he  could  do 
nothing  good  of  himself.  What  did  he  do?  He 
raw  set  before  him  the  almighty  Saviour  and  he 
cast  himself  into  His  arms;  he  trusted  himself  to 
that  omnipotent  love  and  cried,  "Lord,  have 
mercy  upon  me."  That  was  salvation.  It  was 
not  for  what  he  did  that  Christ  accepted  him.   Oh, 


22  CARNAL  CHRISTIANS 

believers,  if  any  of  us  who  are  conscious  that  the 
carnal  state  predominates  have  to  say:  "It  marks 
me ;  I  am  a  religious  man,  an  earnest  man,  a  friend 
of  missions;  I  work  for  Christ  in  my  church,  but, 
alas!  temper  and  sin  and  worldliness  have  still 
the  mastery  over  my  soul,"  hear  the  word  of  God. 
If  any  will  come  and  say:  "I  have  struggled,  I 
have  prayed,  I  have  wept,  and  it  has  not  helped 
me,"  then  you  must  do  one  other  thing.  You 
must  see  that  the  living  Christ  is  God's  provision 
^or  your  holy,  spiritual  life.  You  must  believe  that 
that  Christ  who  accepted  you  once,  at  conversion, 
in  His  wonderful  love  is  now  waiting  to  say  to 
you  that  you  may  become  a  spiritual  man,  entirely 
given  up  to  God.  If  you  will  believe  that,  your 
fear  will  vanish  and  you  will  say:  "It  can  be 
done;  if  Christ  will  accept  and  take  charge,  it 
shall  be  done." 

Then,  my  last  mark.  A  man  must  take  that 
step,  a  solemn  but  blessed  step.  It  cost  some  of 
you  five  or  ten  years  before  you  took  the  step  of 
conversion.  You  wept  and  prayed  for  years,  and 
could  not  find  peace  until  you  took  that  step.  So, 
'n  the  spiritual  life,  you  may  go  to  teacher  after 
jeacher,  and  say,  "Tell  me  about  the  spiritual 
.ife,  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  and  holiness,"  and 
yet  you  may  remain  just  where  you  were.  Many 
of  us  would  love  to  have  sin  taken  away.  Who 
loves  to  have  a  hasty  temper?    Who  loves  to  have 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS  23 

a  proud  disposition  ?  Who  loves  to  have  a  worldly 
heart?  No  one.  We  go  to  Christ  to  take  it  away, 
and  he  does  not  do  it;  and  we  ask,  "Why  will  he 
not  do  it?  I  have  prayed  very  earnestly."  It  is 
because  you  wanted  Him  to  take  aw^a}^  the  ugly 
fruits  while  the  poisonous  root  was  to  stay  in  you. 
You  did  not  ask  Him  that  the  liesh  should  be 
nailed  to  His  cross,  and  that  you  should  henceforth 
give  up  self  entirely  to  the  power  of  His  Spirit. 

There  is  deliverance,  but  not  in  the  way  we 
seek  it.  Suppose  a  painter  had  a  piece  of  canvas, 
on  which  he  desired  to  work  out  some  beautiful 
picture.  Suppose  that  piece  of  canvas  does  not 
belong  to  him,  and  any  one  has  a  right  to  take  it 
and  to  use  it  for  any  other  purpose;  do  you  think 
the  painter  would  bestow  much  work  on  that?  No. 
Yet  people  want  Jesus  Christ  to  bestow  His  trouble 
upon  them  in  taking  awa}?  this  temper,  or  that  other 
sin,  though  in  their  hearts  they  have  not  yielded 
themselves  utterly  to  His  command  and  His  keep- 
ing. It  can  not  be.  But  if  you  will  come  and  give 
your  whole  life  into  His  charge,  Christ  Jesus  is 
mighty  to  save;  Christ  Jesus  waits  to  be  gracious; 
Christ  Jesus  waits  to  fill  you  with  His  Spirit. 

Will  you  not  take  the  step?  God  grant  that  we 
may  be  led  by  His  Spirit  to  a  yielding  up  of  our- 
selves to  Him  as  never  before.  Will  you  not  come  in 
humble  confession  that,  alas!  the  carnal  life  has 
predominated  too  much, has  altogether  marked  you, 


24  CARNAL  CHRISTIANS 

and  that  you  have  a  bitter  consciousness  that  with 
all  the  blessing  God  has  bestowed,  He  has  not 
made  you  what  you  want  to  be  —  a  spiritual  man  ? 
It  is  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  wJio  by  His  indwell- 
ing can  make  a  spii'itnal  man.  Come  then 
and  cast  yourself  at  God's  feet,  with  this  one 
thought,  "Lord,  I  give  myself  an  empty  vessel  to 
be  filled  with  Thy  Spirit."  Each  one  of  you  sees 
every  day  at  the  tea  table  an  empty  cup  set 
there,  waiting  to  be  filled  with  tea  when  the  proper 
time  comes.  So  with  every  dish,  every  plate. 
They  are  cleansed  and  empty,  ready  to  be  filled. 
Emptied  and  cleansed.  Oh,  come!  and  just 
as  a  vessel  is  set  apart  to  receive  what  it  is  to 
contain,  say  to  Christ  that  you  desire  from  this 
hour  to  be  a  vessel  set  apart  to  be  filled  with  His 
Spirit,  given  up  to  be  a  spiritual  man.  Bow  down 
in  the  deepest  emptiness  of  soul,  and  say,  "Oh, 
God,  I  have  nothing!"  and  then  surely  as  you 
place  yourself  before  Him  you  have  a  right  to  say, 
"My  God  will  fulfill  His  promise!  I  claim  from 
Him  the  filling  of  the  Hol}^  Spirit  to  make  me,  in- 
stead of  a  carnal,  a  spiritual  Christian."  If  you 
place  yourself  at  His  feet,  and  tarry  there;  if  you 
abide  in  that  humble  surrender  and  that  childlike 
trust,  as  sure  as  God  lives  the  blessing  will  come. 
Oh,  have  we  not  to  bow  in  shame  before  God, 
as  we  think  of  His  whole  Church  and  see  so  much 
of  the   carnal   prevailing?     Have   we  not  to  bow 


CARNAL  CHRISTIANS  25 

in  shame  before  God,  as  we  think  of  so  much 
of  the  carnal  in  our  hearts  and  lives?  Then  let 
us  bow  in  great  faith  in  God's  mercy.  Deliver- 
ance is  nigh,  deliverance  is  coming,  deliverance 
is  waiting,  deliverance  is  sure.  Let  us  trust;  God 
will  give  it. 


THE  SELF  LIFE. 


11. 


Matt.  i6:  24. — If  any  majt  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny 
himself,  and  take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me, 

IN  the  13th  verse  we  read  that  Jesus  at  Csesarea 
Philippi  asked  His  disciples,  "Whom  do  men  say 
that  I,  the  Son  of  Man,  am?"  When  they  had 
answered.  He  asked  them,  "But  whom  say  ye 
that  I  am?"  And  in  verse  16  Peter  answered  and 
said,  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living 
Godc"  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him :  "  Blessed 
art  thou,  Simon  Barjonas,  for  flesh  and  blood  hath 
not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is 
in  Heaven.  And  I  say  also  unto  thee  that  thou  art 
Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church 
and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 
Then  in  verse  21  we  read  how  Jesus  began  to  tell 
His  disciples  of  His  approaching  death;  and  in 
verse  22  how  Peter  began  to  rebuke  Him,  saying, 
"Beit  far  from  Thee,  Lord;  this  shall  not  be 
unto  Thee."  But  Jesus  turned  and  said  unto  Peter, 
"Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan;  thou  art  an  offense 
unto  me,  for  thou  savorest  not  the  things  that 
be  of  God,  but  those  that  be  of  men."     Then  said 

2G 


THE  SELF  LIFE  27 

Jesus  unto  His  disciples,  "If  any  man  will  come 
after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his 
cross  and  follow  me." 

We  often  hear  about  the    compromise    life  and 
the  question   comes  up  What  lies  at  the  root  of  it? 
What  is  the  reason  that   so   many  Christians  are 
wasting  their  lives  in  the  terrible   bondage   of  the 
world  instead  of  living  in    the    manifestation    and 
the  privilege  and   the  glory  of  the  child  of  God? 
And  another  question  perhaps  comes  to  us:    What 
can    be  the    reason  that    when    we   see  a  thing  is 
wrong  and  strive   against  it  we  cannot  conquer  it? 
What  can  be  the  reason   that   we   have  a  hundred 
times  prayed  and  vowed,  yet  here  we  are  still  liv- 
ing a  mingled,  divided,  half-hearted  life  ?    To  those 
two  questions    there  is  one  answer:   it   is  self   that 
is  the  root  of  the  whole  trouble.     And  therefore,  if 
any  one  asks  me,  "How  can  I  get  rid  of  this  com- 
promise life?"  the  answer  would  not  be,  "You  must 
do  this,  or  that,  or  the  other  thing,"  but  the  answer 
would    be,  "A   new  life  from   above,  the   life  of 
Christ,  must  take  the  place  of  the  self-life;  then 
alone  can  we  be  conquerors," 

We  always  go  from  the  outward  to  the  in- 
ward; let  us  do  so  here;  let  us  consider  from  these 
words  of  the  text  the  one  word,  "self."  Jesus  said 
to  Peter:  "If  any  man  will  come  after  me  let  him 
deny  himself,  his  own  self,  and  take  up  the  cross 
and  follow  me."     That  is  a  mark  of  the    disciple; 


28  THE  SELF  LIFE 

that  is  the  secret  of  the  Christian  life  —  deny  self 
and  all  will  come  right.  Note  that  Peter  was  a 
believer,  and  a  believer  who  had  been  taught  b}^ 
the  Holy  Spirit.  He  had  given  an  answer  that 
pleased  Christ  wonderfully:  "Thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God."  Do  not  think  that 
that  was  nothing  extraordinary.  We  learn  it  in 
our  catechisms;  Peter  did  not;  and  Christ  saw 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Father  had  been  teaching 
him  and  He  said:  "Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar- 
jonas."  But  note  how  strong  the  carnal  man  still 
is  in  Peter.  Christ  speaks  of  His  cross;  He  could 
understand  about  the  glory,  "Thou  art  the  Son  of 
God;"  but  about  the  cross  and  the  death  he  could 
not  understand,  and  he  ventured  in  his  self-con- 
fidence to  say,  "Lord,  that  shall  never  be;  Thou 
canst  not  be  crucified  and  die."  And  Christ  had 
to  rebuke  him:  "Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan. 
Thou  savorest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God." 
Yoa  are  talking  like  a  mere  carnal  man,  and  not 
as  the  Spirit  of  God  would  teach  you.  Then  Christ 
went  on  to  say,  "Remember,  it  is  not  only  I  who 
am  to  be  crucified,  but  you;  it  is  not  only  I  who 
am  to  die,  but  you  also.  If  a  man  would  be  my 
disciple,  he  must  deny  self,  and  he  must  take  up 
liis  cross  and  follow  me."  Let  us  dwell  upon  this 
one  word,  "self."  It  is  only  as  we  learn  to  know 
what  self  is  that  we  reall}^  know  what  is  at  the 
root  of  all  our  failure,  and  are  prepared  to  go  to 
Christ  for  deliverance. 


THE  SELF  LIFE  29 

Let  us  consider,  first  of  all,  the  nature  of  this 
self  life,  then  denote  some  of  its  works  and  then 
ask  the  question:  '4Iovv  may  we  be  delivered  from 

it?^' 

Self  is  the  power  with  which   God   has   created 
and  endowed    every  intelligent   creature.      Self  is 
the  very  center  of  a  created  being.     And  why  did 
God  give  the  angels  or  man  a  self?     The  object 
of  this  self  was  that  we  might  bring  it  as  an  empty 
vessel  unto   God;  that    He  might    put  into  it  His 
life.     God    gave    me   the   power    of   self-determi- 
nation, that  I  might   bring  this  self  every  day  and 
say:  "Oh,  God,  work   in   it;  I  offer  it  to    thee." 
God  wanted  a  vessel  into  which  He  might  pour  out 
His  divine  fullness  of  beauty,  wisdom  and  power; 
and  so  He  created  the  world,  the  sun,  and  the  moon, 
and  the  stars,  the  trees,  and    the   flowers,  and  the 
grass,  which  all  show  forth  the  riches  of  His  wis- 
dom, and  beauty,  and  goodness.      But    they  do  it 
without  knowing  what  they  do.  Then  God  created 
the  angels  with  a  self  and  a  will,  to   see   whether 
they  would  come  and  voluntarily  yield  themselves 
to  Him  as  vessels  for  Him  to  fill.     But  alas!    they 
did  not  all  do  that.  There  was  one  at  the  head  of  a 
great  company,  and  he  began  to  look    upon  him- 
self, and  to  think  of  the    wonderful    powers  with 
which  God  had  endowed  him,  and   to    delight    in 
himself.      He  began  to  think:  "Must    such   a   be- 
ing  as    I   always    remain   dependent    on    God?" 


30  THE  SELF  LIFE 

He  exalted  himself,  pride  asserted  itself  in  sepa- 
ration from  God,  and  that  very  moment  he  be- 
came, instead  of  an  angel  in  Heaven,  a  devil  in 
hell.  Self  turned  to  God  is  the  glory  of  allowing 
the  Creator  to  reveal  Himself  in  us.  Self  turned 
away  from  God  is  the  very  darkness  and  fire  of 
hell. 

We   all   know   the   terrible    story  of  what  took 
place  further;  God  created  man,  and  Satan    came 
in  the  form  of  a  serpent  and  tempted  Eve  with  the 
thought  of  becoming  as  God,  having  an  independ- 
ent self,  knowing  good  and  evil.     And  while   he 
spoke   with   her,  he   breathed   into    her,    in   those 
words,  the  very  poison  and  the  very  pride  of  hell. 
His     own     evil    spirit,    the  very    poison  of    hell, 
entered  humanity,  and  it  is  this  cursed  self  that  we 
have  inherited  from  our  first  parents.      It  was  that 
self  that  ruined  and  brought  destruction  upon  this 
world,  and  all   that  there   has   been  of  sin,  and  of 
darkness,  and  of  wretchedness,  and  of  misery;  and 
all    that  there   will   be   throughout    the    countless 
ages    of  eternity  in  hell,  will   be   nothing  but    the 
reign  of  self,  the  curse  of  self,  separating  man  and 
turning    him   away  from  his  God.     And  if  we  are 
to  understand  fully  what  Christ  is  to  do  for  us,  and 
are  to    become   partakers   of  a  full  salvation,  we 
must  learn  to  know,  and  to  hate,  and  to   give  up 
entirely  this  cursed  self. 

Now  what  are  the  works  of  self  .^    I  might  men- 


THE  SELF  LIFE  31 

tion  many,  but  let  us  take  the  simplest  words  that 
we  are  continually  using,  —  self-will,  self-confi- 
dence, self-exaltation.  Self-will,  pleasing  self,  is 
the  great  fin  of  man,  and  it  is  at  the  root  of  all  that 
compromising  with  the  world  which  is  the  ruin  of 
so  many.  Men  can  not  understand  why  they 
should  not  please  themselves  and  do  their  own 
will.  Numbers  of  Christians  have  never  gotten 
hold  of  the  idea  that  a  Christian  is  a  man  who  is 
never  to  seek  his  own  will,  but  is  always  to  seek 
the  will  of  God,  as  a  man  in  whom  the  very  spirit 
of  Christ  lives.  "Lo,  I  come  to  do  Thy  will,  oh, 
my  God!"  We  find  Christians  pleasing  themselves 
in  a  thousand  ways,  and  yet  trying  to  be  happy, 
and  good,  and  useful;  and  they  do  not  know  that 
at  the  root  of  it  all  is  self-will  robbing  them  of  the 
blessing.  Christ  said  to  Peter,  "Peter,  deny  your- 
self." But  instead  of  doing  that,  Peter  said,  "I 
will  deny  my  Lord  and  not  myself."  He  never 
said  it  in  words,  but  Christ  said  to  him  in  the  last 
night,  "Thou  shalt  deny  Me,"  and  he  did  it. 
What  was  the  cause  of  this?  Self-pleasing.  He 
became  afraid  when  the  woman  servant  charged 
him  with  belonging  to  Jesus,  and  three  times  said, 
"I  know  not  this  man,  I  have  nothing  to  do  with 
Him."  He  denied  Christ.  Just  think  of  it!  No 
wonder  Peter  wept  those  bitter  tears.  It  was  a 
choice  between  self,  that  ugl}^  cursed  self,  and 
that  beautiful,    blessed   Son    of    God;  and   Peter 


32  THE  SELF  LIFE 

chose  self.  No  wonder  that  he  thought:  "Instead 
of  denying  m3^self,  I  have  denied  Jesus;  what  a 
choice  I  have  made!"  No  wonder  that  he  wept 
bitterl3^ 

Christians,  look  at  your  own  lives  in  the  light 
of  the  words  of  Jesus.  Do  you  find  there  self- 
will,  self-pleasing?  Remember  this:  every  time 
you  please  yourself,  you  deny  Jesus.  It  is  one  of 
the  two.  You  must  please  Him  only,  and  deny 
self,  or  you  must  please  yourself  and  deny  Him. 
Then  follows  self-confidence,  self-trust,  self-effort, 
self-dependence.  What  was  it  that  led  Peter  to 
deny  Jesus?  Christ  had  warned  him;  why  did 
he  not  take  warning?  Self-confidence.  He  was 
so  sure:  "Lord,  I  love  Thee»  For  three  years 
I  have  followed  Thee.  Lord,  I  deny  that  it  ever 
can  be.  I  am  ready  to  go  to  prison  and  to  death." 
It  was  simply  self-confidence.  People  have  often 
asked  me,  "What  is  the  reason  I  fail?  I  desire 
so  earnestly,  and  pray  so  fervently,  to  live  in 
God's  will."  And  my  answer  generally  is, 
"Simpl}'  because  you  trust  yourself."  They  an- 
swer me:  "No,  I  do  not;  I  know  I  am  not  good; 
and  I  know  that  God  is  willing  to  keep  me,  and 
I  put  my  trust  in  Jesus."  But  I  reply,  "No,  my 
brother;  no;  if  you  trusted  God  and  Jesus,  you 
could  not  fall,  but  you  trust  yourself."  Do  let 
us  believe  that  tlie  cause  of  every  failure  in  the 
Christian  life  is   nothing   but   this.     I    trust    this 


THE  SELF  LIFE  33 

cursed  self,  instead  of  trusting  Jesus.  I  trust  my 
own  strength,  instead  of  the  almighty  strength  of 
God.  And  that  is  why  Christ  says,  "This  self 
must  be  d^^nied." 

Then  there  is  self-exaltation,  another  form  of 
the  works  of  self.  Ah,  how  much  pride  and  jeal- 
ousy is  there  in  the  Christian  world ;  how  much 
sensitiveness  to  what  men  say  of  us  or  think  of  us; 
how  much  desire  of  human  praise  and  pleasing 
men,  instead  of  always  living  in  the  presence  of 
God,  with  the  one  thought:  "Am  I  pleasing  to 
Him?"  Christ  said,  "How  can  ye  believe  who 
receive  honor  one  of  another?"  Receiving  honor 
of  one  another  renders  a  life  of  faith  absolutely 
impossible.  This  self  started  from  hell,  it  sepa- 
rated us  from  God,  it  is  a  cursed  deceiver  that  leads 
us  astray  from  Jesus. 

Now  comes  the  third  point.  What  are  we  to 
do  to  get  rid  of  it?  Jesus  answers  us  in  the  words 
of  our  text:  "If  an}^  man  will  come  after  me,  let 
him  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  me."  Note  it 
well.  —  I  must  deny  myself  and  take  Jesus  him- 
self as  my  life,  —  I  must  choose.  There  are  two 
lives,  the  self  life  and  the  Christ  life;  I  must 
choose  one  of  the  two.  "Follow  me,"  says  our 
Lord,  "make  me  the  law  of  yowx  existence,  the  rule 
of  your  conduct;  give  me  your  whole  heart;  fol- 
low me,  and  I  will  care  for  all."  Oh,  friends,  it 
is  a  solemn    exchange   to   have   set  before  us;  to 


34  THE  SELF  LIFE 

come  and,  seeing  the  danger  of  this  self,  with  its 
pride  and  its  wickedness,  to  cast  ourselves  before 
the  Son  of  God,  and  to  say,  "I  deny  my  own  life, 
I  take  Thy  life  to  be  mine." 

The  reason  why  Christians  pray  and  pray  for  the 
Christ  life  to  come  in  to  them,  without  result,  is 
that  the  self  life  is  not  denied.  You  ask,  "How  can 
I  get  rid  of  this  self  life?"  You  know  the  parable: 
the  strong  man  kept  his  house  until  one  stronger 
than  he  came  in  and  cast  him  out.  Then  the  place 
was  garnished  and  swept,  but  empty,  and  he  came 
back  with  seven  other  spirits  worse  than  himself. 
It  is  only  Christ  Himself  coming  in  that  can  cast 
out  self,  and  keep  out  self.  This  self  will  abide 
with  us  to  the  very  end.  Remember  the  Apostle 
Paul;  he  had  seen  the  Heavenly  vision,  and  lest 
he  should  exalt  himself,  the  thorn  in  the  flesh  was 
sent  to  humble  him.  There  was  a  tendency  to 
exalt  himself,  which  was  natural,  and  it  would  have 
conquered,  but  Christ  delivered  him  from  it  by 
His  faithful  care  for  His  loving  servant.  Jesus 
Christ  is  able,  by  His  divine  grace,  to  prevent  the 
power  of  self  from  ever  asserting  itself  or  gaining 
the  upper  hand;  Jesus  Christ  is  willing  to  be- 
come the  life  of  the  soul;  Jesus  Christ  is  willing 
to  teach  us  so  to  follow  Him,  and  to  have  heart  and 
life  set  upon  Him  alone,  that  He  shall  ever  and 
always  be  the  light  of  our  souls.  Then  we  come 
to  what  the  apostle  Paul  says:  "Not  I,  but  Christ 


THE  SELF  LIFE  35 

liveth  in  me.''    The  two  trutlis  go  together.    First 
"Not  I,"  then,  "but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 

Look  at  Peter  again.  Christ  said  to  him,  "Deny 
3'Ourself,  and  follow  me."  Whither  had  he  to 
follow?  Jesus  led  him,  even  though  he  failed; 
and  where  did  he  lead  him?  He  led  him  on  to 
Gethsemane,  and  there  Peter  failed,  for  he  slept 
when  he  ought  to  have  been  awake,  watching  and 
praying;  He  led  him  on  towards  Calvary,  to  the 
place  where  Peter  denied  Him.  Was  that  Christ's 
leading?  Praise  God,  it  was.  The  Holy  Spirit 
had  not  3^et  come  in  His  power;  Peter  was  yet  a 
carnal  man  ;  the  Spirit  willing,  but  not  able  to  con- 
quer; the  flesh  weak.  What  did  Christ  do?  He 
led  Peter  on  until  he  was  broken  down  in  utter 
self-abasement,  and  humbled  in  the  depths  of  sor- 
row. Jesus  led  him  on,  past  the  grave,  through 
the  Resurrection,  up  to  Pentecost,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  came,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit  Christ  with 
His  divine  life  came,  and  then  it  was,  "Christ 
liveth  in  me." 

There  is  but  one  way  of  being  delivered  from 
this  life  of  self.  W^e  must  follow  Christ,  set  our 
hearts  upon  Him, listen  to  His  teachings,  give  our- 
selves up  every  day^  that  He  may  be  all  to  us, 
and  by  the  power  of  Christ  the  denial  of  self  will 
be  a  blessed,  unceasing  realit3\  Never  for  one 
hour  do  I  expect  the  Christian  to  reach  a  stage  at 
which  he  can  say,  "I  have  no  self  to  deny;"  never 


36  THE  SELF  LIFE 

for  one  moment  in  which  he  can  say,  "I  do  not 
need  to  deny  self."  No,  this  fellowship  with  the 
cross  of  Christ  will  be  an  unceasing  denial  of  self 
every  hour  and  every  moment  by  the  grace  of 
God.  There  is  no  place  where  there  is  full  de- 
liverance  from  the  power  of  this  sinful  self.  We 
are  to  be  crucified  with  Christ  Jesus.  We  are  to 
live  with  Him  as  those  who  have  never  been  bap- 
tized into  His  death.  Think  of  that!  Christ  had 
no  sinful  self,  but  He  had  a  self  and  that  self  He 
actually  gave  up  unto  death.  In  Gethsemane  He 
said,  "Father,  not  My  will."  That  unsinning  self 
He  gave  up  unto  death  that  He  might  receive  it 
again  out  of  the  grave  from  God,  raised  up  and 
glorified.  Can  we  expect  to  go  to  Heaven  in  any 
other  wa}'-  than  He  went?  Beware!  remember 
that  Christ  descended  into  death  and  the  grave, 
and  it  is  in  the  death  of  self,  following  Jesus  to 
the  uttermost,  that  the  deliverance  and  the  life  will 
come. 

And  now,  what  is  the  use  that  we  are  to  make 
of  this  lesson  of  the  Master?  The  first  lesson  will 
be  that  we  should  take  time,  and  that  we  should 
humble  ourselves  before  God,  at  the  thought  of 
what  this  self  is  in  us;  put  down  to  the  account  of 
the  self  every  sin,  every  shortcoming,  all  failure, 
and  all  that  has  been  dishonoring  to  God,  and  then 
say,  "Lord,  this  is  what  I  am;"  and  then  let  us 
allow  the  blessed  Jesus  Christ  to  take  entire    con- 


THE  SELF  LIFE  37 

trol  of  our  life,  in  the  faith   that   His   life   can   be 
ours. 

Do  not  think  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  get  rid  of  self. 
At  a  consecration  meeting,  it  is  easy  to  make  a  vow, 
and  to  oiler  a  prayer,  and  to  perform  an  act  of 
surrender,  but  as  solemn  as  the  death  of  Christ 
was  on  Calvary  —  His  giving  up  of  His  unsinning 
self  life  to  God,  —  just  as  solemn  must  it  be  between 
us  and  our  God  — the  giving  up  of  self  to  death. 
The  power  of  the  death  of  Christ  must  come  to 
work  in  us  every  day.  Oh,  think  what  a  contrast 
between  that  self-willed  Peter,  and  Jesus  giving 
up  His  will  to  God!  What  a  contrast  between 
that  self-exaltation  of  Peter,  and  the  deep  humility 
of  the  Lamb  of  God,  meek  and  lowly  in  heart  be- 
fore God  and  man!  What  a  contrast  between  that 
self-confidence  of  Peter,  and  that  deep  dependence 
of  Jesus  upon  the  Father,  when  He  said:  "I  can 
do  nothing  of  myself."  We  are  called  upon  to 
live  the  life  of  Christ,  and  Christ  comes  to  live 
His  life  in  us;  but  one  thing  must  first  take  place; 
we  must  learn  to  hate  this  self,  and  to  deny  it.  As 
Peter  said, when  he  denied  Christ,"!  have  nothing 
to  do  with  him,"  so  we  must  say,"  I  have  nothing  to 
do  with  self,"  that  Christ  Jesus  may  be  all  in  all. 
Let  us  humble  ourselves  at  the  thought  of  what 
this  self  has  done  to  us  and  how  it  has  dishonored 
Jesus;  and  let  us  pray  very  fervently :  "Lord,  by 
Thy  light  discover  this  self;  we  beseech    Thee  to 


3S  THE  SELF  LIFE 

discorer  it  to  us.  Open  our  eyes,  that  we  may 
see  what  it  has  done,  and  that  it  is  the  only  hin- 
drance that  has  been  keeping  us  back."  Let  us 
pray  that  fervently,  and  then  let  us  wait  upon  God 
until  we  get  away  from  all  our  religious  exercises, 
and  from  all  our  religious  experience,  and  from 
all  our  blessings,  until  we  get  close  to  God,  with 
this  one  prayer:  "Lord  God,  self  changed  an  arch- 
angel into  a  devil,  and  self  ruined  m}^  first  parents, 
and  brought  them  out  of  Paradise  into  darkness  and 
misery,  and  self  has  been  the  ruin  of  my  life  and 
the  cause  of  every  failure;  oh,  discover  it  to  me." 
And  then  comes  the  blessed  exchange,  that  a  man 
is  made  willing  and  able  to  say :  "Another  will 
live  the  life  for  me,  another  will  live  with  me,  an- 
other will  do  all  for  me."  Nothing  else  will  do. 
Deny  self;  take  up  the  cross,  to  die  with  Jesus; 
follow  Him  onl}'.  May  He  give  us  the  grace  to 
understand,  and  to  receive,  and  to  live  the  Christ 
life. 


WAITING  ON  GOD 
III. 

Psalms  62 »  5, — My  soul,    wait  thou  only  upon  God,  for  my 
expectation  is  from  Him. 

THE  solemn  question  comes  to  us,  "Is  the  God 
I  have,  a  God  that  is  to  me  above  all  circum- 
stances, nearer  to  me  than  an}'  circumstance  can 
be?"  Brother,  have  you  learned  to  live  your  life 
having  God  so  really  with  you  every  moment,  that 
in  circumstances  the  m.ost  difficult  He  is  always 
more  present  and  nearer  than  anything  around 
you?  All  our  knowledge  of  God's  Word  will  help 
us  very  little,  unless  that  comes  to  be  the  question 
to  which  we  get  an  answer. 

What  can  be  the  reason  that  so  many  of  God's 
beloved  children  complain  continually:  "My  cir- 
cumstances separate  me  from  God;  my  triak^,  my 
temptations,  my  character,  my  temper,  my  friends, 
my  enemies,  anything  can  come  between  my  God 
and  me?"  Is  God  not  able  so  to  take  possession 
that  He  can  be  nearer  to  me  than  anything  in  the 
world?  Must  riches  or  poverty,  joy  or  sorrow, 
have  a  power  over  me  that  my  God  has  not?  No. 
But  why,  then,  do  God's  children  so  often  complain 


40  WAITING  ON  GOD 

that  their  circumstances  separate  them  from  Him? 
There  can  be  but  one  answer,  "They  do  not  know 
their  God."  If  there  is  trouble  or  feebleness  in  the 
Church  of  God,  it  is  because  of  this.  We  do  not 
know  the  God  we  have.  That  is  why  in  addition 
to  the  promise,  "I  will  be  thy  God,"  the  promise 
is  so  often  added,  *'And  ye  shall  know  that  I  am 
your  God."  If  I  know  that,  not  through  man's 
teaching,  not  with  my  mind  or  my  imagination; 
but  if  I  know  that,  in  the  living  evidence  which  God 
gives  in  my  heart,  then  I  know  that  the  divine 
presence  of  my  God  will  be  so  wonderful,  and 
my  God  Himself  will  be  so  beautiful,  and  so  near, 
that  I  can  live  all  my  days  and  years  a  conqueror 
through  Him  that  loved  me.  Is  not  that  the  life 
which  we  need? 

The  question  comes  again:  Wh}^  is  it  that  God's 
people  do  not  know  their  God?  And  the  answer 
is:  They  take  anything  rather  than  God,  — minis- 
ters, and  preaching,  and  books,  and  prayers,  and 
work,  and  efforts,  any  exertion  of  human  nature, 
instead  of  waiting,  and  waiting  long  if  need  be, 
until  God  reveals  Himself.  No  teaching  that  we 
may  get,  and  no  effort  that  v^'e  may  put  forth,  can 
put  us  in  possession  of  this  blessed  light  of  God, 
all  in  all  to  our  souls.  But  still  it  is  attainable, 
it  is  within  reach,  if  God  will  reveal  Himself. 
That  is  the  one  necessity.  I  would  to  God  that 
every  one  would  ask  his  heart  whether    he    has 


WAITING  ON-  GOD  41 

said,  and  is  saying  every  day:  "I  want  more  of 
God.  Do  not  speak  to  me  only  of  the  beautiful 
truth  there  is  in  the  Bible.  That  can  not  satisfy 
me.  I  want  God."  In  our  inner  Christian  life, 
in  our  every-day  prayers,  in  our  Christian  living, 
in  our  churches,  in  our  prayer-meetings,  in  our 
fellowship,  it  must  come  to  that  —  that  God  always 
has  the  first  place;  and  if  that  be  given  Him,  He 
will  take  possession.  Oh,  if  in  our  lives  as  indi- 
viduals every  eye  were  set  upon  God,  upon  the 
living  God,  every  heart  were  crying,  "My  soul 
thirstethfor  God,"  what  power,  what  blessing  and 
what  presence  of  the  everlasting  God  would  be 
revealed  to  us!  Let  me  use  an  illustration.  When 
a  man  is  giving  an  illustrated  lecture  he  often  uses 
a  long  pointer  to  indicate  places  on  a  map  or 
chart.  Do  the  people  look  at  that  pointer?  No, 
that  only  helps  to  show  them  the  place  on  the 
map,  and  they  do  not  think  of  it,  —  it  might  be  of 
fine  gold ;  but  the  -pointer  can  not  satisfy  them. 
The}^  want  to  see  v;hat  the  pointer  points  at.  And 
this  Bible  is  nothing  but  a  pointer,  pointing  to 
God;  and,  — may  I  say  it  with  reverence  —  Jesus 
Christ  came  to  point  us,  to  show  us  the  way,  to 
bring  us  to  God.  I  am  afraid  there  are  many  peo- 
ple who  love  Christ  and  who  trust  in  Him,  but 
who  fail  of  the  one  great  object  of  His  work;  they 
have  never  learned  to  understand  what  the  Scrip- 
ture saith:  "He  died,  that  He  might  bring  us  unto 
God." 


42  WAITING  ON  GOD 

There  is  a  difference  between  the  way  and  the  end 
which  I  am  aiming  at.   I  might  be  traveling  amid 
most  beautiful  scenery,  in  the  most  delightful  com- 
pany;  but  if  I  have  a  home  to  which  I  want  to  go, 
all  the  scenery,  and  all  the  company,  and    all    the 
beauty  and  happiness   around  me  can  not   satisfy 
me;  I  want  to   reach  the   end;  I  want  my  home. 
And  God  is  meant  to  be  the   home   of   our  souls. 
Christ  came  into  the  world    to    bring   us  back   to 
God,   and  unless  we  take  Christ  for  what  God    in- 
tended we  should,  our  religion    will  always  be   a 
divided  one.     What  do  we  read  in    Hebrews  vii? 
"He  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost." — -Whom? 
"Them  that  come  to  God  by  Him;"  not  them  that 
only  come  to  Christ.     In  Christ  —  bless  His  name 
—  we  have  the    graciousness,  the    condescension, 
and  the  tenderness  of  God.     But  we  are  in  danger 
of  standing   there,  and   being   content   Vv'ith   that, 
and  Christ  wants  to   bring  us   back   to   rejoice  as 
much   as  in   the   glory   of   God    Himself,  in    His 
righteousness,    His  holiness.    His   authority.    His 
presence   and  His  power.    He  can  save  completely 
those  who  come  to  God  through  Him! 

Now,  just  a  very  few  thoughts  on  the  way  by 
which  I  can  come  to  know  God  as  this  God  above 
*  all  circumstances,  filling  my  heart  and  life  every 
day.  The  one  thing  needful  is:  I  must  wait  upon 
God.  The  original  is,  —  it  is  in  our  Dutch  version, 
and  it  is  in  the  margin,  too, — "My  soul  is  silent 


IVAIT/NG  GN  GOD  4Ji 

into  God.''  What  ought  to  be  the  silence  of  the 
soul  unto  God?  A  soul  conscious  of  its  littleness, 
its  ignorance,  its  prejudices  and  its  dangers  from 
passion,  from  all  that  is  human  and  sinful,  —  a 
soul  conscious  of  that,  and  saying,  "I  want  the 
everlasting  God  to  come  in  and  to  take  hold  of  me 
and  to  take  such  hold  of  me  that  I  may  be  kept  in 
the  hollow  of  His  hand  for  my  life  long;  I  want 
Him  to  take  such  possession  of  me  that  every 
moment  He  may  work  all  in  all  in  me."  That  is 
what  is  implied  in  the  very  nature  of  our  God. 
How  we  ought  to  be  silent  unto  Him,  and  wait 

upon  Him! 

May  I  ask,  with  reverence:  What  is  God  for? 
A  God  is  for  this:  to  be  the  light  and  the  life  of 
creation,  the  source  and  power  of  all  existence. 
The  beautiful  trees,  the  green  grass,  the  bright 
sun,  God  created  that  they  might  show  forth  His 
beauty.  His  wisdom  and  His  glory.  The  tree  of 
one  hundred  years  old  — when  it  was  planted  God 
did  not  give  it  a  stock  of  life  by  which  to  carry  on 
its  existence.  Nay,  verily,  God  clothes  the  lilies 
every  year  afresh  with  their  beauty;  every  year 
God  clothes  the  tree  with  its  foliage  and  its  fruit. 
Every  day  and  every  hour  it  is  God  who  main- 
tains the  life  of  all  nature.  And  God  created  rs, 
that  we  might  be  the  empty  vessels  in  which  He 
could  work  out  His  beauty.  His  will,  His  love, 
and  the   likeness  of   His  blessed    Son.     That  is 


44  WAITING  ON  GOD 

what  God  is  for,  to  work  in  us  by  His  mighty 
operation,  without  one  moment's  ceasing.  When 
I  begin  to  get  hold  of  that,  I  no  longer  think  of 
the  true  Christian  life  as  a  high  impossibility,  and 
an  unnatural  thing,  but  I  say,  "It  is  the  most  nat- 
ural thing  in  creation  that  God  should  have  me 
every  moment,  and  that  my  God  should  be  nearer 
to  me  than  all  else."  Just  think,  for  a  moment, 
what  foll}^  it  is  to  imagine  that  I  can  not  expect 
God  to  be  with  me  every  moment.  Just  look  at 
the  sunshine;  have  you  ever  had  any  trouble  as 
you  were  working  or  as  you  w'eie  studj-ing  or 
reading  a  book  in  the  light  the  sun  gives?  Have 
you  ever  said,  "Oh,  how  can  I  keep  that  light, 
how  can  I  hold  it  fast,  how  can  I  be  sure  that  I 
shall  continue  to  have  it  to  use?''  You  never 
thought  that.  God  has  taken  care  that  the  sun 
itself  should  provide  you  with  light;  and  without 
your  care;  the  light  comes  unbidden.  And  I  ask 
you:  What  think  you?  Has  God  arranged  that  the 
light  of  that  sun  that  will  one  day  be  burned  up, 
can  come  to  you  unconsciously  and  abide  in  you 
blessedly  and  mightily;  and  is  God  not  willing, 
or  is  He  not  able,  to  let  His  light  and  His  pres- 
ence so  shine  through  you  that  you  can  walk  all 
the  day  with  God  nearer  to  3^ou  than  anything  in 
nature?  Praise  God  for  the  assurance;  He  can 
do  it.  And  wh}^  does  He  not  do  it?  Why  so  sel- 
dom, and  why  in  such  feeble  measure?     There  is 


WAITING  ON  GOD  45 

but  one  answer:  you  do  not  let  Him.  You  are  so 
occupied  and  filled  with  other  things,  religious 
things,  preaching  and  praying,  studying  and  work- 
ing, so  occupied  with  your  religion,  that  you  do 
not  give  God  the  time  to  make  Himself  known, 
and  to  enter  in  and  to  take  possession.  Oh,  brother, 
listen  to  the  word  of  the  man  who  knew  God  so 
well,  and  begin  to  say:  "My  soul,  wait  thou  only 
upon  God." 

I  might  shov^^  that  this  is  the  very  glory  of  the 
Creator,  the  very  life  Christ  brought  into  the 
world,  the  life  He  lived,  and  the  very  life  Christ 
wants  to  lift  us  up  to  in  its  entire  dependence  en 
the  Father.  The  very  secret  of  the  Christ-life 
is  this:  such  a  consciousness  of  God's  presence 
that  whether  it  was  Judas,  who  came  to  betray 
Him,  or  Caiaphas,  who  condemned  Him  unjustly, 
or  Pilate,  who  gave  Him  up  to  be  crucified,  the 
presence  of  the  Father  was  upon  Him,  and  within 
Him,  and  around  Him,  and  man  could  not  touch 
His  spirit.  And  that  is  what  God  wants  to  be  to 
you  and  to  me.  Does  not  all  your  anxious  restless- 
ness, and  futile  effort,  prove  that  you  have  not  let 
God  do  His  work?  God  is  drawing  you  to  Him- 
self. This  is  not  your  own  wish,  and  the  stirring 
of  your  own  heart,  but  the  everlasting  Divine 
magnet  is  drawing  you.  These  restless  yearnings 
and  thirstings,  remember,  are  the  work  of  God. 
Come  and  be  still,  and  wait  upon  God.  He  will 
reveal  Himself. 


46  WAITING  ON  GOD 

And  how  am  I  to  wait  on  God?  In  answer  I 
would  say:  first  of  all,  in  prayer  take  more  time 
to  be  still  before  God  without  saying  one  word. 
What  is,  in  prayer,  the  most  important  thing? 
That  I  catch  the  ear  of  Him  to  whom  I  speak. 
We  are  not  ready  to  offer  our  petition  until  we  are 
fully  conscious  of  having  secured  the  attention  of 
God.  You  tell  me  you  know  all  that.  Yes,  you 
know  it;  but  you  need  to  have  your  heart  filled  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  with  the  holy  consciousness  that  the 
everlasting,  almighty  God  is  indeed  come  very 
near  you.  The  loving  one  is  longing  to  have  you 
for  His  own.  Be  still  before  God,  and  wait,  and 
say:  "Oh,  God,  take  possession.  Reveal  Thj'self, 
not  to  my  thoughts  or  imaginations,  but  by  the 
solemn,  awe-bringing,  soul-subduing  conscious- 
ness that  God  is  shining  upon  me  bring  me  to  the 
place  of  dependence  and  humility." 

Prayer  ma}^  be  indeed  waiting  upon  God,  but 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  prayer  that  is  not  waiting 
upon  God.  Waiting  on  God  is  the  first  and  the 
best  beginning  for  prayer.  When  we  bow  in  the 
humble,  silent  acknowledgment  of  God's  glory 
and  nearness,  ere  we  begin  to  pray  there  will  be 
the  very  blessing  that  we  often  get  onl}^  at  the 
end.  From  the  very  beginning  I  come  face  to 
face  with  God;  I  am  in  touch  with  the  everlasting 
omnipotence  of  love  and  I  know  my  God  will 
bless  me.     Let  us  never  be  afraid  to  be  still  before 


WAITLYG  O.V  GOD  41 

God;  we  shall  then  carry  that  stillness  into  our 
work;  and  when  we  go  to  church  on  Sunday,  or 
to  the  prayer-meeting  on  week-days,  it  will  be  with 
the  one  desire  that  nothing  may  stand  betwixt  us  and 
God,  and  that  we  may  never  b^  so  occupied  with 
hearing  and  listening  as  to  forget  the  presence  of 
God. 

Oh,  that  God  might  make  every  minister  what 
Moses  was  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sinai;  "Moses 
led  the  people  out  to  meet  God,''  and  they  did 
meet  Him  until  they  were  afraid.  Let  every  min- 
ister ask  with  all  the  earnestness  his  soul  can  com- 
mand, that  God  may  deliver  him  from  the  sin  of 
preaching  and  teaching  without  making  the  people 
feel  first  of  all:  "The  man  wants  to  bring  us  to 
God  Himself.^'  It  can  be  felt,  not  only  in  the 
words,  but  in  the  very  disposition  of  the  humble, 
waiting,  worshiping  heart.  We  must  carry  this 
waiting  into  all  our  worship;  we  will  have  to  make 
a  study  of  it;  we  will  have  to  speak  about  it;  we 
will  have  to  help  each  other,  for  the  truth  has  been 
too  much  lost  in  the  Church  of  Christ;  we  must 
wait  upon  God  about  it.  Then  we  shall  be  able 
to  carry  it  out  into  our  daily  life.  There  are  so 
many  Christians  who  wonder  that  they  fail;  but 
think  of  the  ease  with  which  they  talk  and  join  in 
conversation,  spending  hours  in  it,  never  thinking 
that  all  this  may  bo  dissipating  the  soul's  power  and 
leading  them  to  spend  hours  not  in  the  immediate 


48  WAITING  ON  GOD 

presence  of  God.  I  am  afraid  this  is  the  great 
difficulty:  that  we  are  not  willing  to  make  the 
needed  sacrifice  for  a  life  of  continual  waiting 
upon  God.  Are  there  not  some  of  us  who  would 
feel  it  an  impossibility  to  spend  every  moment 
under  the  covering  of  the  Most  High,  "in  the 
secret  of  His  pavilion?"  Beloved,  do  not  think 
it  too  high,  or  too  difficult.  It  is  too  difficult 
for  you  and  me  to  attain,  but  our  God  will  give 
it  to  us.  Let  us  begin  even  now  to  wait  more 
earnestly  and  intensely  upon  God.  Let  us  in 
our  homes  sometimes  dow  a  little  in  silence;  let 
us  in  our  closets  wait  in  silence,  and  make  a  cov- 
enant, it  may  be,  wdthout  words,  that  with  our 
whole  hearts  we  will  seek  God's  presence  to  come 
in  upon  us. 

What  is  religion?  Just  as  much  as  you  have  of 
God  working  in  you,  that  alone  is  religion.  And 
if  you  want  more  religion,  more  grace,  more 
strength  and  more  fruitfulness,  you  must  have 
more  of  God.  Let  that  be  the  cry  of  our  hearts, 
—  More  of  God !  More  of  God !  More  of  God ! 
And  let  us  say  to  our  souls,  "My  soul,  wait  thou 
upon  God,  for  my  expectation  is  from  Him." 


ENTRANCE  INTO  REST. 
IV. 

Hcbrexvs  4:  i. — Let   us    therefore  fear,    lest,  a  projnise  be- 
ing left  us  of  entering  into  His  rest,  any  of  you   should 
seem  to  rotne  short  of  it. 
Hebrerus  4:  II — .Let  us  labor   therefore   to  enter  into   that 
rest,  lest  any   man  fall  after  the  same  example   of  un- 
belief. 

I  WANT,  in  the  simplest  way  possible,  to  answer 
the  question:  "How  does  a  man  enter  into  that 
rest?"  and  to  point  out  the  simple  steps  that  he  takes, 
all  included  in  the  one  act  of  surrender  and  faith. 
And  the  first  step,  I  think,  is  this:  that  a  man 
learns  to  say,  ''I  believe,  heartily,  there  is  rest  in 
a  life  of  faith."  Israel  passed  through  two  stages. 
This  is  beautifully  expressed  in  the  fifth  of  Deu- 
teronomy: "He  brought  us  out,  that  He  might 
bring  us  in"  —  two  parts  of  God's  work  of  redemp- 
tion—  "He  brought  us  out  from  Egpyt,  that  He 
might  bring  us  into  Canaan."  And  that  is  appli- 
cable to  every  believer.  At  your  conversion, 
God  brought  you  out  of  Egypt,  and  the  same  al- 
mighty God  is  longing  to  bring  you  into  the 
Canaan  life.  .  You   know   how   God   brought   the 

Israelites  out,  but  they  would   not   let   Him   bring 

49 


50  ENTRANCE  INTO  REST 

them  in  and  they  had  to  wander  for  forty  years 
in  the  wilderness  —  the  type,  alas!  of  so  many 
Christians.  God  brings  them  out  in  conversion, 
but  they  will  not  let  Him  bring  them  in  into  all 
that  He  has  prepared  for  them.  To  a  man  who 
asks  me,  "How  can  I  enter  into  the  rest?"'  I  say, 
first  of  all,  speak  this  word,  "I  do  believe  that 
there  is  a  rest  into  which  Jesus,  our  Joshua,  can 
bring  a  trusting  soul."  And  if  you  would  know 
what  the  difference  is  between  the  two  lives  —  the 
life  you  have  been  leading,  and  the  life  you  now 
want  to  lead,  just  look  at  the  wilderness  and 
Canaan.  What  are  the  points  of  difference?  In 
the  wilderness,  wandering  for  fort}^  years,  back- 
ward and  forward;  in  Canaan,  perfect  rest  in 
the  land  that  God  gave  them.  That  is  the  differ- 
ence between  the  life  of  a  Christian  who  has, 
and  one  who  has  not  entered  into  Canaan.  In 
wandering  backward  and  forward;  going  after 
the  world,  and  coming  back  and  repenting;  led 
astray  b}^  temptation,  and  returning  only  to  go 
off  again  ;  —  a  life  of  ups  and  downs.  In  Canaan, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  life  of  rest,  because  the  soul 
has  learned  to  trust:  "God  keeps  me  every  hour  in 
His  mighty  power."  There  is  the  second  differ- 
ence: the  life  in  the  wilderness  was  a  life  of 
want;  in  Canaan,  a  life  of  plenty.  In  the  wilder- 
ness there  was  nothing  to  eat;  there  was  often  no 
water.     God  graciously  supplied    their   wants  by 


ENTRANCE  INTO  REST  51 

the  manna,  and  the  water  from  the  rock.  But, 
alas!  they  were  not  content  with  this,  and  their 
life  was  one  of  want  and  murmurincfs.  But  in 
Canaan  God  gave  them  vineyards  that  they  had 
not  planted,  and  the  old  corn  of  the  land  was  there 
waiting  for  them ;  aland  flowing  with  milk  and 
honey ;  a  land  that  lived  by  the  rain  of  Heaven 
and  had  the  very  care  of  God  Himself.  Oh, 
Christian,  come  and  say  to-day,  "I  believe  there 
is  a  possibility  of  such  a  change  out  of  that  life  of 
spiritual  death,  and  darkness,  and  sadness,  and 
complaining,  that  I  have  often  lived,  into  the  land 
of  supply  of  every  want;  where  the  grace  of  Jesus 
is  proved  sufficient  every  day,  every  hour.  Say 
to-day:  "I  believe  in  the  possibility  that  there  is 
such  a  land  of  rest  for  me." 

And  then,  the  third  difference:  In  the  wilder- 
ness there  was  no  victory.  When  they  tried,  after 
they  had  sinned  at  Kadesh,  to  go  up  against  their 
enemies,  they  were  defeated.  In  the  land  they 
conquered  every  enemy;  from  Jericho  onward, 
they  went  from  victory  to  victor3^  And  so  God 
waits,  and  Christ  waits,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  waits,^ 
to  give  victory  everyday;  not  freedom  from  temp- 
tation; no,  not  that;  but  in  union  with  Christ  a 
power  that  can  say,  ''I  can  do  all  things  through 
Him  that  strengtheneth  me."  "We  are  more  than 
conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us."  May 
God  help  every  heart  to  say  that. 


52  ENTRANCE  INTO  RES  7 

Then  comes  the  second  step.  I  want  you  to 
say  not  onl}^,  ''I  believe  there  is  such  a  life,"  but, 
second,  "I  have  not  had  it  yet."  Say  that.  "I 
have  never  yet  got  that."  Some  may  say,  "I  have 
sought  it;"  some  may  say,  "I  have  never  heard 
about  it;"  some  may  say,  "At  times  I  thought  I 
had  found  it,  but  I  lost  it  again."  Let  every  one 
be  honest  with  God. 

And  now,  will  all  who  have  never  yet  found  it 
honestly,  begin  to  say,  "Lord,  up  to  this  time  I 
have  never  had  it?"  And  why  is  it  of  such  con- 
sequence to  speak  thus?  Because,  dear  friends, 
some  people  want  to  glide  into  this  life  of  rest 
gradually;  and  just  quietly  to  steal  in;  and  God 
won't  have  it.  Your  life  in  the  wilderness  has 
not  only  been  a  life  of  sadness  to  3'ourself,  but  of 
sin  and  dishonor  to  God.  Every  deeper  entrance 
into  salvation  must  always  be  by  the  way  of  con- 
viction and  confession;  therefore,  let  every  Chris- 
tian be  willing  to  say:  "Alas!  I  have  not  lived  that 
life,  and  I  am  guilty;  I  have  dishonored  God;  I 
have  been  like  Israel;  I  have  provoked  Him  to 
wrath  by  my  unbelief  and  disobedience.  God 
have  mercy  upon  me!"  Oh,  let  it  ^o  up  before 
God  —  the  secret  confession:  "I  haven't  it;  alas! 
I  have  not  glorified  God  b}'  a  life  in  the  land  of 
rest." 

Then  comes  the  third  word  I  want  yow  to  speak 
and  that  is:  "Thank  God,  that  life  is  for  me."  Some 


ENTRANCE  INTO  REST  53 

say," I  believe  there  is  such  a  life, but  not  for  me." 
There  are  people  who  continually  say:  "Oh,  my 
character  is  so  unstable;  my  will  is  naturally  very 
weak;  my  temperament  is  nervous  and  excitable, 
it  is  impossible  for  me  always  to  live  without  worry, 
resting  in  God."  Beloved  brother,  do  not  say 
that.  You  say  so  only  for  one  reason:  You  do 
not  know  what  your  God  will  do  for  3-ou.  Do  be- 
gin to  look  away  from  self,  and  to  look  up  to 
God.  Take  that  precious  word:  "He  brought 
them  out  that  he  might  bring  them  in."  The 
God  who  took  them  through  the  Red  Sea  was 
the  God  who  took  them  through  Jordan  into 
Canaan.  The  God  who  converted  you  is  the 
God  who  is  able  to  give  you  every  day  this 
blessed  life.  Oh,  begin  to  say,  with  the  begin- 
nings of  a  feeble  faith,  even  before  you  claim  it, 
begin  even  intellectually  to  say :  "  It  is  for  me ;  I  do 
believe  that.  God  does  not  disinherit  any  of  His 
children.  What  He  gives  is  for  every  one.  I  be- 
lieve that  blessed  life  is  waiting  for  me  It  is 
meant  for  me.  God  is  waiting  to  bestow  it,  and 
to  work  it  in  me.  Glor}^  be  to  His  blessed  name! 
My  soul  says  it  is  for  me,  too."  Oh,  take  that 
little  word  "me,"  and  looking  up  in  the  very  face 
of  God  dare  to  say:  "This  inestimable  treasure  — 
it  is  for  me,  the  weakest  and  the  unworthiest;  it  is 
for  me."  Have  you  said  that?  Say  it  now:  "This 
life  is  possible  to  me,  too." 


54  ENTRANCE  INTO  REST 

And  then  comes  the  next  step,  and  that  is:  "I 
can  never,  by  any  effort  of  mine,  grasp  it;  it  is 
God  must  bestow  it  on  me."  I  want  you  to  be  very 
bold  in  saying,  "It  is  for  me."  But  then  I  want  you 
to  fall  down  very  low  and  say,  "  I  can  not  seize  it ;  I 
can  not  take  it  to  myself."  And  how  can  you  then  get 
it?  Praise  God,  if  once  He  has  brought  you  down 
in  the  consciousness  of  utter  helplessness  and  self- 
despair,  then  comes  the  time  that  He  can  draw  nigh 
and  ask  you,  "Will  you  trust  your  God  to  Vv^ork 
this  in  you?"  Dearly  beloved  Christians,  say  in 
your  heart:  "I  never,  by  any  effort,  can  take  hold 
of  God,  or  seize  this  for  m^^self ;  it  is  God  must 
give  it."  Cherish  this  blessed  impotence.  It  is 
He  who  brought  us  out,  who  Himself  must  bring 
us  in.  It  is  your  greatest  happiness  to  be  impo- 
tent. Pray  God  by  the  Hol}^  Spirit  to  reveal  to 
you  this  true  impotence,  and  that  will  open  the 
way  for  your  faith  to  say,  "Lord,  Thou  must  do 
it,  or  it  will  never  be  done."  God  will  do  it. 
People  wonder,  when  they  hear  so  many  sermons 
about  faith,  and  such  earnest  pleading  to  believe, 
and  ask  why  it  is  they  can  not  believe.  There  is 
just  one  answer:  It  is  self.  Self  is  working;  is 
trying;  is  struggling,  and  self  must  fail.  But 
when  you  come  to  the  end  of  self  and  can  only 
cry,  "Lord,  help  me!  Lord,  help  me!"  —  then 
the  deliverance  is  nigh;  believe  that.  It  was  God 
brought  the  people  in.  It  is  God  who  will  bring 
you  in. 


ENTRANCE  INTO  REST  55 

One  should  be  willing,  for  the  sake  of  this  rest, 
to  give  up  everything.     The  grace  of  God  is  very 
free.   It  is  given  without  money  and  without  price. 
And  3^et,  on  the  other  hand,  Jesus  said  that  every 
man  who  wants  the  pearl  of  great  price  must  sac- 
rifice his  all,  must  sell  all  that  he  has    to  buy  that 
pearl.      It  is   not   enough    to   see   the    beauty,  the 
attractiveness  and  the  glory,    and  almost    to    taste 
the  gladness  and  the  joy  of  this  wonderful   life   as 
it  has  been   set   before  you.     You   must    become 
the  possessor,  the  owner  of  the  field.     The    man 
who  found  the  field  with  a  treasure,  and   the   man 
who  found  the   great   pearl,  were    both   glad;  but 
they  had  not  yet  got  it.     They  had  found  it,  seen 
it,  desired  it,  rejoiced  in  it;  but  they  had    not  yet 
got  it.     Not  until  they  went  and  sold  all,  gave  up 
everything,  and  bought   the   ground,  and    bought 
the  pearl.     Ah,  friends,  there  is  a  great   deal  tliat 
has   to   be   given   up:   the  world,  its  pleasures,  its 
favor,  its  good  opinion.     You  are  to  stand   to  the 
world    in    the  same    relation  as   Jesus   did.     The 
world  rejected   Him,  and   cast   Him  out,  and  you 
are  to  take  up  the  position  of  your  Lord,  to  whom 
you  belong,  and  to  follow  with  the  rejected  Christ. 
You  have  to  give   up   everything.     You    have   to 
give  up  all  that  is  good  in  yourself  and  to  be  hum- 
bled   in    the  dust  of  death.     And   that  is  not  all. 
Your  past  religious    life  and  experience   and  suc- 
cesses—  you   have    to   give   all   up   and  become 


5G  ENTRANCE  INTO  REST 

nothing,  that  God  alone  may  have  the  glory. 
God  has  brought  you  out  in  conversion ;  it  vpas 
God's  own  life  given  you:  but  you  have  defiled  it 
with  disobedience  and  with  unbelief.  Give  it  all 
up.  Give  up  all  your  ov;n  wisdom,  and  your  own 
thoughts  about  God's  work.  How  hard  it  is  for 
the  minister  of  the  Gospel  to  give  up  all  his  wis- 
dom, and  to  lay  it  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  to  become  a 
fool  and  to  say:  "Lord,  I  know  nothing  as  I 
should  know  it.  I  have  been  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel, and  how  little  I  have  seen  of  the  glory  of  the 
blessed  land,  and  the  blessed  life!" 

Why  is  it  that  the  blessed  Spirit  can  not  teach 
us  more  effectually?  No  reason  but  this:  the  wis- 
dom of  man  prevents  it;  the  wisdom  of  man  pre- 
vents the  light  of  God  from  shining  in.  And  so 
we  could  say  of  other  things;  give  up  all.  Some 
may  have  an  individual  sin  to  give  up.  There 
may  be  a  Christian  man  who  is  angry  with  his 
brother.  There  ma}^  be  a  Christian  woman  who 
has  quarreled  with  her  neighbor.  There  may  be 
friends  who  are  not  living  as  the}^  should.  There 
may  be  Christians  holding  fast  some  little  doubtful 
thing,  not  willing  to  surrender  and  leave  behind 
the  whole  of  the  wilderness  life  and  lust.  Oh,  do 
take  this  step  and  say:  "I  am  ready  to  give  up 
everything  to  have  this  pearl  of  great  price;  my 
time,  my  attention,  my  business,  I  count  all  subor- 
dinate to  this  rest  of  God  as  the  first   thing   in  my 


ENTRANCE  INTO  REST  67 

life;  I  yield  all  to  walk  in  perfect  fellowship  with 
God."  You  can  not  get  that  and  live  every  day 
in  perfect  fellowship  with  God,  without  giving  up 
time  to  it.  You  take  time  for  everything.  How 
many  hours  a  day  has  a  young  lady  spent  for  years 
and  3^ears  that  she  may  become  proficient  on  the 
piano?  How  many  years  does  a  young  man  study 
to  lit  himself  for  the  profession  of  the  law  or  medi- 
cine? Hours,  and  days,  and  weeks,  and  months, 
and  years,  gladly  given  up  to  perfect  himself  for 
his  profession.  And  do  you  expect  that  religion 
is  so  cheajD  that  without  giving  time  you  can  find 
close  fellowship  with  God?  You  can  not.  But, 
oh,  my  brothers  and  sisters,  the  pearl  of  great  price 
is  worth  everything.  God  is  worth  everything. 
Christ  is  worth  everything.  Oh,  come  to-day,  and 
say,  "Lord,  at  any  cost  help  me;  I  do  want  to  live 
this  life."  And  if  you  find  it  difficult  to  say  this,  and 
if  there  is  a  struggle  within  the  heart,  never  mind; 
say  to  God,  "Lord,  I  thought  I  was  willing,  but  I 
see  how  much  unwillingness  there  is;  come  and 
discover  what  the  evil  is  still  in  the  heart."  By 
His  grace,  if  you  will  lie  at  His  feet  and  trust  Him 
3^oumay  depend  upon  it  deliverance  will  come. 

Then  comes  the  next  step,  and  that  is  to  say: 
"I  do  now  give  up  myself  to  the  holy  and  ever- 
lasting God,  for  Him  to  lead  me  into  this  perfect 
rest."  Ah,  friends,  we  must  learn  to  meet  God 
face   to   face.     My    sin  has    been    against    God. 


58  ENTRANCE  INTO  REST 

David  felt  that  when  he  said,  "Against  Thee, 
Thee  only,  have  I  sinned."  It  is  God  on  the 
judgment  seat  whose  face  you  will  have  to  meet 
personally.  It  is  God  Himself,  personally,  who 
met  you  to  pardon  your  sins.  Come  to-day  and 
put  yourself  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God. 
God  is  love.  God  is  near.  God  is  waiting  to  give 
you  His  blessing.  The  heart  of  God  is  yearning 
over  you.  "My  child,"  God  says,  "you  think  you 
are  longing  for  rest;  it  is  I  that  am  longing  for 
you,  because  I  desire  to  rest  in  your  heart  as  My 
home,  as  My  temple."  You  need  your  God.  Yes, 
but  youi  God  needs  you,  to  find  the  full  satisfac- 
tion of  His  Father  heart  in  Christ  in  you.  Come 
to-day  and  say:  "I  do  now  give  up  myself  to 
Christ.  I  have  made  the  choice.  I  deliberately 
say,  'Lord  God,  I  am  the  purchaser  of  the  pearl 
of  great  price.  I  give  up  everything  for  it.  In 
the  name  of  Jesus  I  accept  that  life  of  perfect 
rest."' 

And  then  comes  my  last  thought.  When  you 
have  said  that,  then  add:  "And  now,  I  trust  God 
to  make  it  all  real  to  me  in  my  experience. 
Whether  I  am  to  live  one  year,  or  thirty  years,  I 
have  heard  it  to-day  again:  'God  is  Jehovah,  the 
great  I  AM  of  the  everlasting  future,  the  eternal 
One;  and  thirty  years  hence  is  to  Him  just  the 
same  as  now;'  and  that  God  gives  Himself  to  me, 
not  according  to  my  power  to  hold   Him,  but   ac- 


ENTRANCE  INTO  REST  69 

cording  to  His  almighty  power  of  love  to  hold 
me."  Will  j^ou  trust  God  to-day  for  the  future? 
Oh,  will  you  look  up  to  God  in  Christ  Jesus  once 
agaui?  A  thousand  times  you  have  heard,  and 
thought,  and  thanked  —  "God  has  given  us  His 
Son;"  but  will  you  not  to-day  say,  "How  shall  He 
not  with  Him  give  me  all  things,  every  moment 
and  ever}!-  day  of  my  life?"  Say  that  in  faith. 
"How  shall  God  not  be  willing  to  keep  me  in  the 
light  of  His  countenance,  in  the  full  experience  of 
Christ's  saving  power?  Did  God  make  the  sun  to 
shine  so  brightly,  and  is  the  light  so  willing  to 
pour  itself  into  every  nook  and  corner  where  it 
can  find  entrance?  And  will  not  my  God,  who 
is  love,  be  willing  all  the  day  to  shine  into  this 
heart  of  mine,  from  morning  to  night,  from  year's 
end  to  year's  end?  God  is  love,  and  longs  to  give 
HinLrc-lf  to  us. 

Oh,  come.  Christians,  you  have  hitherto  lived  a 
life  in  your  own  strength.  Will  you  not  begin 
to-day?  Will  you  not  choose  a  life  in  which  God 
shall  be  all,  and  in  which  you  rest  in  Him  for  all? 
Will  you  not  choose  a  life  in  which  you  shall  say: 
"Oh,  God,  I  ask,  I  expect,  I  trust  Thee  for  it.  I 
enter  this  day  into  the  rest  of  God  to  let  God  keep 
me;  to  let  God  keep  me  every  hour.  I  enter  into 
the  rest  of  God."  Are  you  ready  to  say  that?  Be 
of  good  courage;  fear  not,  you  can  trust  God. 
He  brings  into  rest.     Listen  to  God's  word  in  the 


60  ENTRANCE  INTO  REST 

Prophets  once  again:  "Take  heed,  and  be  quiet. 
Fear  not, neither  be  faint-hearted."  Joshua  brought 
Israel  into  the  land.  God  did  it  through  Joshua ;  and 
Joshua  is  Jesus, your  Jesus,  who  washed  3^ou  in  His 
blood  ;  your  Jesus,  whom  3^ou  have  learned  to  know 
as  a  precious  Saviour.  Trust  Him  to-day  afresh: 
"  O  my  Joshua,  take  me,  bring  me  in  and  I  will  trust 
Thee,  and  in  Thee  the  Father."  You  may  count 
upon  it.  He  will  take  you  and  the  work  will  be 
done. 


THE  KINGDOM  FIRST. 
V. 

Matt  6:  s^.—Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God. 

YOU  have  heard  what  need  there  is  of  unity  in 
Christian  life  and  Christian  work.  And  where  is 
the  bond  of  unity  between  the  life  of  the  Church, 
the  life  of  the  individual  believer  and  the  work  to 
be  done  among  the  heathen?     One  of  the  expres- 
sions  for  that  unity  is:  "Seek  first  the  Kingdom  of 
God,"    That  does  not  mean,  as  many  people  take 
it,  "  Seek  salvation  ;  seek  to  get  into  the  Kingdom, 
and  then   thank   God,  and    rest   there."     Ah,  no; 
the  meaning  of  that  word  is  entirely  different   and 
infinitely  larger.     It  means:  Let  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  in    all    its   breadth    and    length,    in    all    its 
Heavenly  glory  and  power;  let  the    Kingdom  of 
God   be  the   one  thing  you  live  for,  and  all  other 
things  will   be  added    unto  you.     "Seek  first  the 
Kingdom  of  God."     Let  me  just  try  to  answer  two 
very  simple  questions;  the  one:  "Why  should  the 
Kingdom  of  God  be  first?"  and  the  other:  "How 
can  it  be?"  The  one,  "Why  should  it  be  so?"  God 
has  created  us  as  reasonable    beings,  so    that  the 
more  clearly  we  see  that  according  to  the  law  of 

61 


62  THE  KINGDOM  FIRST 

nature,  according  to  the  fitness  of  things,  some- 
thing that  is  set  before  us  is  proper,  and  an  abso- 
lute necessit3^  we  so  much  the  more  willingly  ac- 
cept it,  and  aim  after  it.  And  now,  wh\^  does 
Christ  say  this:  "Seek  first  the  Kingdom  of 
God?"  If  you  want  to  understand  the  reason, 
look  at  God,  and  look  at  man.  Look  at  God. 
Who  is  God?  The  great  Being  for  whom  alone 
the  universe  exists;  in  whom  alone  it  can  have  its 
happiness.  It  came  from  Him.  It  can  not  find 
any  rest  or  joy  but  in  Him.  Oh,  that  Christians 
understood  and  believed  that  God  is  a  fountain  of 
happiness,  perfect,  everlasting  blessedness!  What 
w'ould  the  result  be?  Every  Christian  would  say, 
"The  more  I  can  have  of  God,  the  happier.  The 
more  of  God's  will,  and  the  more  of  God's  love, 
and  the  more  of  God's  fellowship,  the  happier." 
How  Christians,  if  they  believed  that  with  their 
whole  heart,  would,  Vv'ith  the  utmost  ease,  give  up 
everything  that  would  separate  them  from  God ! 
Why  is  it  that  we  find  it  so  hard  to  hold  fellow- 
ship with  God?  A  young  minister  once  said  to 
me,  "Why  is  it  that  I  have  so  much  more  interest 
in  study  than  in  pra3^er,  and  how  can  you  teach 
me  the  art  of  fellowship  with  God?"  My  answer 
was:  "Oh,  my  brother,  if  we  have  any  true  con- 
ception of  what  God  is,  the  art  of  fellowship  with 
Him  will  come  naturally,  and  will  be  a  delight." 
Yes,  if  we  believed  God  to  be  only  joy  to  the  one 


THE  KINGDOM  FIRST  6S 

who  comes  to  Him,  only  a  fountain  of  unlimited 
blessing,  how  we  should  give  up  all  for  Him!  Has 
not  joy  a  far  stronger  attraction  than  anything  in 
the  world?  Is  it  not  in  every  beauty,  or  in  every 
virtue,  in  every  pursuit,  the  joy  that  is  set  before 
us  that  draws?  And  if  we  believe  that  God  is  a 
fountain  of  joy,  and  sweetness,  and  power  to 
bless,  how  our  hearts  will  turn  aside  from  every- 
thing, and  say:  "Oh,  the  beauty  of  my  God! 
I  rejoice  in  Him  alone."  But,  alas!  the  Kingdom 
of  God  looks  to  many  as  a  burden,  and  as  some- 
thing unnatural.  It  looks  like  a  strain,  and  we 
seek  some  relaxation  in  the  world,  and  God  is  not 
our  chief  joy.  I  come  to  you  with  a  message.  It 
is  right,  on  account  of  what  God  is  as  Infinite 
Love,  as  Infinite  Blessing;  it  is  right  and  more,  it 
is  our  highest  privilege  to  listen  to  Christ's  words, 
and  to  seek  God  and  His  Kingdom  first  and  above 
everything. 

And  then  look  at  man  again;  man's  nature. 
What  was  man  created  for?  To  live  in  the  like- 
ness of  God,  and  as  His  image.  Now,  if  we  have 
been  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God, 
we  can  find  our  happiness  in  nothing  except  that 
in  which  God  finds  His  happiness.  The  more  like 
Him  we  are  the  happier.  And  in  what  does  God 
find  His  happiness?  In  two  things:  Everlasting 
righteousness  and  everlasting  beneficence.  God 
is  righteousness    everlasting.     "He  is  Light,  and 


G4  THE  KINGDOM  FIRST 

in  Him  is  no  darkness.''  The  Kingdom,  the 
domination,  the  rule  of  God  will  bring  us  nothing 
but  righteousness.  "Seek  the  Kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness."  If  men  but  knew  what 
sin  is,  and  if  men  really  longed  to  be  free  from 
everything  like  sin,  what  a  grand  message  this 
would  be!  Jesus  comes  to  lead  me  to  God  and 
His  righteousness.  We  were  created  to  be  like 
God,  in  His  perfect  righteousness  and  holiness. 
What  a  prospect!  And  in  His  love  too.  The 
Kingdom  of  God  means  this:  that  there  is  in 
God  a  rule  of  universal  love.  He  loves,  and  loves, 
and  never  ceases  to  love;  and  He  longs  to  bless 
all  who  will  yield  to  His  pleadings.  God  is  Light, 
and  God  is  Love.  And  now  the  message  comes 
to  man.  Can  you  think  of  a  higher  nobility;  can 
you  think  of  anything  grander  than  to  take  the 
position  that  God  takes,  and  to  be  one  with  God 
in  His  Kingdom;  /.  ^.,  to  have  His  Kingdom  fill 
your  heart;  to  have  God  Himself  as  your  King 
and  portion?  Yes,  my  friends,  let  us  remember 
that  we  must  not  just  try  to  get  here  and  there 
one  and  another  of  the  blessings  of  the  Kingdom. 
But  the  glory  of  the  Kingdom  is  this:  that  it  is  the 
Kingdom  of  God  where  God  is  all  in  all.  The 
French  Empire,  when  Napoleon  lived,  had  mili- 
tary glory  as  the  ideal.  Every  Frenchman's  heart 
thrilled  at  the  name  of  Napoleon  as  the  man  who 
had  given   the  empire  its  glory.     If  we  realized 


THE  K I  NT,  DOM  FIRST  ^ 

what  it  means, —  our  God  takes  iis  up  into  His  King- 
dom and  puts  His  Kingdom  into  us  and  with  the 
Kingdom  we  have  God  Himself,  that  blessed  One, 
possessing  us  —  surely  there  would  be  nothing  that 
could  move  our  hearts  to  enthusiasm  like  this. 
The  Kingdom  of  God  first!  Blessed  be  His 
name!  Look  at  man.  I  don't  speak  about  man's 
sins,  and  about  man's  wretchedness,  and  about 
man's  seeking  everywhere  for  pleasure,  and  for 
rest,  and  for  deliverance  from  sin,  but  I  just  say: 
Think  what  man  is  by  creation  and  think  what 
man  is  now  by  redemption ;  and  let  every  heart 
say:  "It  is  right.  There  is  no  blessedness  or  glory 
like  that  of  the  Kingdom.  The  Kingdom  of  God 
ought  to  be  first  in  my  whole  life  and  being." 

But  now  comes  the  important •  question,  "How 
can  I  attain  this?"  Here  we  come  to  the  great 
question  that  is  troubling  the  lives  of  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  Christians  throughout  the  world.  And  it 
is  strange  that  it  is  so  very  difficult  for  them  to  find 
the  answer;  that  tens  of  thousands  are  not  able 
to  give  an  answer;  and  others,  when  the  answer  is 
given,  can  not  understand  it.  The  day  the  cen- 
turion found  his  joy  in  being  devoted  to  the  Roman 
Empire,  it  took  charge  of  him  with  all  its  power 
and  glory.  Dear  friends,  how  are  we  to  attain  to 
this  blessed  position  in  which  the  Kingdom  of 
God  shall  fill  our  hearts  with  such  enthusiasm  that 
it  will  spontaneously  be  first  every  day.?     The  an- 


66  THE  KINGDOM  FIRST 

swer  is,  first  of  all  give  up  everything  for  it.  You 
have  heard  of  the  Roman  soldier  who  gave  up  his 
soul,  his  affection,  his  life,  who  gave  up  ever}^- 
thing,  to  be  a  soldier;  and  you  have  often  seen, 
in  history  ancient  and  modern,  how  men  w^ho 
were  not  soldiers  gave  up  their  lives  in  sacrifice  for 
a  king  or  a  country.  You  have  heard  how  in  the 
South  African  Republic  not  many  years  ago  the 
war  of  liberty  was  fought.  After  three  years  of 
oppression  by  the  English  the  people  said  they 
would  endure  it  no  longer,  and  so  they  gathered 
together  to  fight  for  their  libert3^  They  knew  how 
weak  they  were,  as  compared  with  the  English 
power,  but  they  said,  "We  must  have  our  libert}^" 
They  bound  themselves  together  to  fight  for  it, 
and  when  that  vow  had  been  made,  they  went  to 
their  homes  to  prepare  for  the  struggle.  Such  a 
thrill  of  enthusiasm  passed  through  that  countr}^ 
that  in  many  cases  women,  when  their  husbands 
might  have  been  allowed  to  stay  at  home^  said  to 
them:  "No,  go,  even  though  3'Ou  have  not  been 
commanded."  And  there  were  mothers  who,  when 
one  son  was  called  out  to  the  front,  said:  "No, 
take  two,  three."  Every  man  and  woman  was 
ready  to  die.  It  was  in  ver}/  deed  "Our  country 
first,  before  everything."  And  even  so,  friends, 
must  it  be  with  you  if  3^ou  want  this  wonderful 
Kingdom  of  God  to  take  possession  of  you.  I 
pray  you  by  the  mercies  of  God,  give  up  every- 


THE  KINGDOM  FIRST  67 

thing  for  it.  You  do  noL  know  at  once  what  that 
may  mean,  but  take  the  words  and  speak  them  out 
at  the  footstool  of  God:  ''An^^thing,  everything, 
for  the  Kingdom  of  God."  Persevere  in  that,  and 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  your  God  will  begin  to  open  to 
3^ou  the  double  blessing:  on  the  one  hand,  the 
blessedness  of  the  Kingdom  which  comes  to  possess 
your  heart;  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  blessed- 
ness of  being  surrendered  to  Him,  and  sacrificing 
and  giving  up  all  for  Him. 

"The  Kingdom  of  God  first!"  How  am  I  to 
reach  that  blessed  life?  The  answer  is:  "Give  up 
everything  for  it."  And  then  a  second  answer 
would  be  this:  Live  every  day  and  hour  of  -yoxxx 
life  in  the  humble  desire  to  maintain  that  position. 
There  are  people  who  hear  this  test,  and  who  say 
it  is  true,  and  that  they  want  to  obey  it.  But  if 
you  were  to  ask  them  how  much  time  they  spend 
with  God  day  by  day,  you  would  be  surprised  and 
grieved  to  hear  how  little  time  they  give  up  to 
Him.  And  yet  they  wonder  that  the  blessedness 
of  the  divine  life  disappears.  We  prove  the  value 
we  attach  to  things  by  the  time  we  devote  to  them. 
The  Kingdom  should  be  first  every  day,  and  all 
the  day.  Let  the  Kingdom  be  first  every  morn- 
ing. Begin  the  day  with  God,  and  God  Himself 
will  maintain  His  Kingdom  in  your  heart.  Do  be- 
lieve that.  Rome  did  its  utmost  to  maintain  the 
authority  of  the  man  who  gave  himself  to  live  for 


68  THE  KINGDOM  FIRST 

it.  And  God,  the  living  God,  will  He  not  main- 
tain liis  authority  in  your  soul  if  you  submit  to 
Him?  He  will,  indeed.  Come  to  Him;  only 
come,  and  give  yourself  up  to  Him  in  fellowship 
through  Christ  Jesus.  Seek  to  maintain  that  fel- 
lowship with  God  all  the  day.  Ah,  friends,  a  man 
cannot  have  the  Kingdom  of  God  first, and  at  times, 
by  way  of  relaxation,  throw  it  off  and  seek  his  en- 
joyment in  the  things  of  this  world.  People  have 
a  secret  idea  life  wall  become  too  solemn,  too 
great  a  strain  ;  it  will  be  too  difficult  every  moment 
of  the  day,  from  morning  to  evening,  to  have  the 
Kingdom  of  God  first.  One  sees  at  once  how 
wrong  it  is  to  think  thus.  The  presence  of  the 
love  of  God  must  every  moment  be  our  highest 
joy.  Let  us  say:  "By  the  help  of  God,  it  shall  ever 
be  the  Kingdom  of  God  first." 

And  then,  my  last  remark,  in  answer  to  that 
question,  "  How  can  it  be?" is  this:  it  can  be  only 
by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Let  us  remem- 
ber that  God's  Word  comes  to  us  v^'ith  the  language, 
"Be  filled  with  the  Spirit;"  and  if  you  are  content 
with  less  of  the  Spirit  than  God  offers,  not  utterly 
and  entirely  yielding  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit, 
you  do  not  obey  the  command.  But  listen:  God 
has  made  a  wonderful  provision.  Jesus  Christ 
came  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom,  and 
proclaimed  "The  Kingdom  is  at  hand."  "Some," 
He  said,  "are  standing  here  who  will  not  see  death 


THE  KINGDOM  FIRST  09 

until  tliey  see  the  Kingdom  come  in  povv^er."  He 
said  to  the  disciples,  "The  Kingdom  is  within  you." 
And  when  did  the  Kingdom  come  —  that  King- 
dom of  God  upon  earth?  When  the  Holy  Ghost 
descended.  On  Ascension  Day  the  King  went  and 
sat  down  upon  the  throne  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,  and  the  Kingdom  of  God,  in  Christ,  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  upon  earth,  was  inaugurated. 
When  the  Holy  Ghost  came  down  He  brought 
God  into  the  heart,  and  Christ,  and  established  the 
rule  of  God  in  power.  I  am  afraid  sometimes, 
that  in  speaking  of  the  Holy  Spirit  we  forget  one 
thing.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  very  much  spoken  of 
in  connection  with  power;  and  it  is  right  that  we 
should  seek  power.  It  is  not  so  much  spoken  of 
in  connection  with  the  graces.  And  yet  these  are 
always  more  important  than  the  gifts  of  power  — 
the  holiness,  the  humility,  the  meekness,  the  gen- 
tleness, and  the  lovingness;  these  are  the  true 
marks  of  the  Kingdom.  We  speak  rightly  of  the 
Hol}^  Spirit  as  the  only  one  who  can  breathe  all 
this  into  us.  But  I  think  there  is  a  third  thing  al- 
most more  important,  that  we  forget,  and  that  is: 
in  the  Spirit,  the  Father  and  the  Son  themselves 
come.  When  Christ  first  promised  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  spoke  about  His  approaching  coming.  He 
said:  "In  that  day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  the 
Father,  and  ye  in  me,  and  I  in  you.  He  that 
loveth    me  keepeth  my  commandments;  and   my 


70  THE  KINGDOM  FIRST 

Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  and  make 
our  abode  with  him."  Brother,  would  you  have 
the  Kingdom  of  God  first  in  your  life,  you  must 
have  the  Kingdom  in  your  hearts.  If  my  heart 
be  set  upon  a  thing  I  may  be  bound  with  chains, 
but  the  moment  the  chains  are  loosened  I  fly  to- 
wards the  object  of  my  affection  and  desire.  And 
just  so  the  Kingdom  must  be  within  us,  and  then 
it  is  easy  to  say:  "The  Kingdom  first."  But  to  have 
the  Kingdom  within  us  in  truth,  we  must  have 
God  the  Father,  and  Christ  the  Son,  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  within  us  too.  No  Kingdom  without  the 
King. 

You  are  called  to  likeness  with  Christ.  Oh, 
how  many  Christians  strive  after  this  part  and  that 
part  of  the  likeness  of  Christ,  and  forget  the  root 
of  the  whole!  What  is  the  root  of  all?  That 
Christ  gave  Himself  up  utterly  to  God,  and  His 
Kingdom  and  glory.  He  gave  His  life,  that  God's 
Kingdom  might  be  established.  Do  you  the  same 
to-day  and  give  your  life  to  God  to  be  every  mo- 
ment a  living  sacrifice,  and  the  Kingdom  will  come 
with  power  into  your  heart.  Give  yourself  up  to 
Christ.  Let  Christ  the  King  reign  in  your  heart, 
and  the  heavenly  Kingdom  will  come  there  and 
the  Presence  and  the  Rule  of  God  be  known  in 
power.  Oh,  think  of  that  wonderful  thing  that  is 
going  to  happen  in  the  great  eternity.  We  read 
of  it  in  ist  Corinthians:    God  has  entrusted  Christ 


THE  KIXGDOM  FIRST  71 

with  the  Kingdom,  but  there  is  coming  a  day  when 
Christ  shall  come  Himself  again  to  be  subjected 
unto  the  Father,  and  He  shall  give  up  the  King- 
dom to  the  Father,  that  God  may  be  all,  and  in 
that  day  Christ  shall  say  before  the  universe :  "  This 
is  my  glory,  I  give  back  the  Kingdom  to  the 
Father!"  Christians,  if  your  Christ  finds  His  glory 
here  on  earth  in  dying  and  sacrificing  Himself  for 
the  Kingdom  and  then  in  eternity  again  in  giving 
the  Kingdom  to  God,  shall  not  you  and  I  come  to 
God  to  do  the  same  and  count  anything  we  have 
as  loss,  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  may  be  made 
manifest,  and  that   God   may  be  glorified. 


CHRIST  OUR  LIFE. 
VI. 

Colossians  J :  4. — Christ  zvho  is  our  life. 

ONE  question  that  rises  in  every  mind  is  this: 
"How  can  I  live  that  life  of  perfect  trust  in 
God?"  Many  do  not  know  the  right  answer,  or  the 
full  answer.  It  is  this:  "Christ  must  live  it  in  me." 
That  is  what  He  became  man  for;  as  a  man  to 
live  a  life  of  trust  in  God,  and  so  to  show  to  us 
how  we  ought  to  live.  When  He  had  done  that 
upon  earth,  He  went  to  heaven,  that  He  might  do 
more  than  show  us,  might  give  us,  and  live  in  us 
that  life  of  trust.  It  is  as  we  understand  what 
the  life  of  Christ  is  and  how  it  becomes  ours,  that 
we  shall  be  prepared  to  desire  and  to  ask  of  Him 
that  He  would  live  it  Himself  in  us.  When  first 
we  have  seen  what  the  life  is,  then  we  shall  under- 
stand how  it  is  that  He  can  actually  take  posses- 
sion, and  make  us  like  Himself.  I  want  especially 
to  direct  attention  to  that  first  question.  I  wish 
to  set  before  you  the  life  of  Christ  as  He  lived  it, 
that  we  may  understand  what  it  is  that  He  has  for 
us  and  that  we  can  expect  from  Him.  Christ 
Jesus  lived  a  life  upon  earth   that   He    expects  us 


CHRIST  OUR  LIFE  73 

literally  to  imitate.  We  often  say  that  we  long  to 
be  like  Christ.  We  study  the  traits  of  His  char- 
acter, mark  His  footsteps,  and  pray  for  grace  to 
be  like  Him,  and  yet,  somehow,  we  succeed  but 
very  little.  And  why?  Because  we  are  wanting 
to  pluck  the  fruit  while  the  root  is  absent.  If  we 
want  really  to  understand  what  the  imitation  of 
Christ  means,  we  must  go  to  that  which  constituted 
the  very  root  of  His  life  before  God.  It  was  a 
life  of  absolute  dependence,  absolute  trust,  abso- 
lute surrender,  and  until  we  are  one  with  Him  in 
Vv^hat  is  the  principle  of  His  life,  it  is  in  vain  to 
seek  here  or  there  to  copy  the  graces  of  that  life. 

In  the  Gospel  story  we  find  five  great  points  of 
special  importance;  the  birth,  the  life  on  earth, 
the  death,  the  resurrection,  and  the  ascension.  In 
chese  we  have  what  an  old  writer  has  called  "the 
process  of  Jesus  Christ;"  the  process  b}^  which  He 
became  what  He  is  to-day —- our  glorified  King, 
and  our  life.  In  all  this  life  process  we  must  be 
made  like  unto  Him.  Look  at  the  first.  What 
have  we  to  say  about  His  birth?  This:  He  re- 
ceived His  \\iQ  Jrom  God.  What  about  His  life 
upon  earth?  He  lived  that  life  in  dependence 
iLfon  God,  About  His  death?  He  gave  up  His 
life  to  God.  About  His  resurrection  ?  He  was 
raised  from  the  dead  hy  God,  And  about  His  as- 
cension ?     He    lives    His    life  in  glory  with   God. 

First,  He    received    His   life  from  God.     And 


74  CHRIST  OUR  LIFE 

why  is  it  of  consequence  that  we  should  look  to 
that?  Because  Christ  Jesus  had  in  that  the  start- 
ing-point of  His  whole  life.  He  said:  "The  Father 
sent  me;"  "The  Father  hath  given  the  Son  all 
things;"  "The  Father  hath  given  the  Son  to  have 
life  in  Himself."  Christ  received  it  as  His  own 
life,  just  as  God  has  His  life  in  Himself.  And 
yet,  all  the  time  it  was  a  life  given  and  received. 
"Because  the  Father  almighty  has  given  this  life 
unto  me,  the  Son  of  man  on  earth,  I  can  count 
upon  God  to  maintain  it  and  to  carr}^  me  through 
all.  "And  that  is  the  first  lesson  we  need.  We  need 
often  to  meditate  on  it,  and  to  pray,  and  to  think, 
and  to  wait  before  God,  until  our  hearts  open  to 
the  wonderful  consciousness  that  the  everlasting 
God  has  a  divine  life  within  us  which  can  not 
exist  but  through  Him.  I  believe  God  has  given 
His  life,  it  roots  in  Him.  I  shall  feel  it  must  be 
maintained  by  Him.  We  often  think  that  God  has 
given  us  a  life  which  is  now  our  own,  a  spiritual 
life,  and  that  we  are  to  take  charge;  and  then  we 
complain  that  we  can  not  keep  it  right.  No  won- 
der. We  must  learn  to  live,  learn  to  live  as  Jesus 
did.  I  have  a  God-given  treasure  in  this  earthen 
vessel.  I  have  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Christ.  I  have  the  life 
of  God's  Son  within  me  given  me  by  God  Him- 
self, and  it  can  only  be  maintained  by  God  Him- 
self as  I  live  in  fellowship  with   Him. 


CHRIST  OUR  LIFE  75 

What  does  the  Apostle  Paul  teach  us  in  Romans 
V^I. ;  there  where  he  has  just  told  us  that  we  must 
reckon  ourselves  dead  unto  sin,  and  alive  unto 
God  in  Christ  Jesus?  He  goes  on  at  once  to  say: 
"Therefore  yield,  present  yourselves  unto  God,  as 
those  that  are  alive  from  the  dead."  How  often  a 
Christian  hears  solemn  words  about  his  being 
alive  to  God,  and  his  having  to  reckon  himself 
dead  indeed  to  sin,  and  alive  to  God  in  Christ! 
He  does  not  know  what  to  do;  he  immediately 
casts  about:  "How  can  I  keep  it,  this  death  and 
this  life?"  Listen  to  what  Paul  says.  The  mo- 
ment that  you  reckon  yourself  dead  to  sin  and 
alive  to  God,  go  with  that  life  to  God  Himself, 
and  present  yourself  as  alive  from  the  dead,  and 
say  to  God:  "Lord,  Thou  hast  given  me  this  life. 
Thou  alone  canst  keep  it.  I  bring  it  to  Thee. 
I  cannot  understand  all.  I  hardly  know  what  I 
have  got,  but  I  come  to  God  to  perfect  what  He 
has  begun."  To  live  like  Christ,  I  must  be  con- 
scious ever}^  moment  that  my  life  has  come  from 
God,  and  He  alone  can  maintain  it. 

Then,  secondly,  how  did  Christ  live  out  His  life 
during  the  thirty-three  years  in  which  He  walked 
here  upon  earth  ?  He  lived  it  in  dependence  on  God. 
You  know  how  continuall}^  He  says:  "The  Son  can 
do  nothing  of  Himself.  The  words  that  I  speak,  I 
speak  not  of  Myself."  He  waited  unceasingly  for 
the  teaching,  and  the  commands,  and  the  guidance 


76  CHRIST  OUR  LIFE 

of  the  Father.  He  prayed  for  power  from  the 
Father.  Whatever  He  did,  He  did  in  the  name  of 
the  Father.  He,  the  Son  of  God,  felt  the  need  of 
much  prayer,  of  persevering  prayer,  of  bringing 
down  from  heaven  and  maintaining  the  life  of  fel- 
lowship with  God  in  prayer.  We  hear  a  great 
deal  about  trusting  God.  Most  blessed!  And 
we  may  say:  "Ah,  that  is  what  I  want,"  and  we 
may  forget  what  is  the  ver}^  secret  of  all, — 
that  God,  in  Christ,  must  Vv'ork  all  in  us.  I  not 
only  need  God  as  an  object  of  trust,  but  I  must 
have  Christ  within  as  the  power  to  trust;  He 
must  live  His  own  life  of  trust  in  me.  Look  at 
it  in  that  wonderful  story  of  Paul,  the  Apostle,  the 
beloved  servant  of  God.  He  is  in  danger  of  self- 
confidence,  and  God  in  heaven  sends  that  ter- 
rible trial  in  Asia  to  bring  him  down,  lest  he  trust 
in  himself  and  not  in  the  living  God.  God  watched 
over  his  servant  that  he  should  be  kept  trusting. 
Remember  that  other  story  about  the  thorn  in  the 
flesh,  in  2  Corinthians  XH.,  and  think  what  that 
means.  He  was  in  danger  of  exaltinghimself,and  the 
blessed  Master  came  to  humble  him,  and  to  teach 
him:  "I  keep  thee  weak,  that  thou  mayest  learn  to 
trust  not  in  thyself,  but  in  Me."  If  we  are  to  en- 
ter into  the  rest  of  faith,  and  to  abide  there;  if  we 
are  to  live  the  life  of  victory  in  the  land  of  Ca- 
naan, it  must  begin  here.  We  must  be  broken 
down  from  all  self-confidence  and  learn  like  Christ 


CHRIST  OUR  LIFE  77 

to  depend  absolutely  and  unceasingly  upon  God. 
There  is  a  greater  work  to  be  done  in  that  than 
we  perhaps  know.  We  must  be  broken  down, 
and  the  habit  of  our  souls  must  be  unceasingly: 
'•I  am  nothing;  God  is  all.  I  cannot  walk  before 
God  as  I  should  for  one  hour,  unless  God  keep  the 
life  lie  has  given  me."  What  a  blessed  solution 
God  gives  then  to  all  our  questions  and  our  diffi- 
culties, when  He  says:  "M37  child,  Christ  has 
gone  through  it  all  for  thee.  Christ  hath  wrought 
out  a  new  nature  that  can  trust  God  ;  and  Christ  the 
Living  One  in  heaven  will  live  in  thee,  and  enable 
thee  to  live  that  life  of  trust."  That  is  why  Paul 
said:  "Such  confidence  have  we  toward  God, 
through  Christ."  What  does  that  mean?  Does  it 
only  mean  through  Christ  as  the  mediator,  or  inter- 
cessor? Verily,  no.  It  means  much  more;  through 
Christ  living  in  and  enabling  us  to  trust  God  as 
He  trusted  Him. 

Then  comes,  thirdly,  the  death  of  Christ.  What 
does  that  teach  us  of  Christ's  relation  to  the 
Father?  It  opens  up  to  us  one  of  the  deepest  and 
most  solemn  lessons  of  Christ  life,  one  which  the 
Church  of  Christ  understands  all  too  little.  We 
know  what  the  death  of  Christ  means  as  an  atone- 
ment, and  we  never  can  emphasize  too  much  that 
blessed  substitution  and  bloodshedding,  by  which 
redemption  was  won  for  us.  But  let  us  remember, 
that  is  only  half  the  meaning  of  His  death.     The 


78  CHRIST  OUR  LIFE 

Other  half  is  this:  just  as  much  as  Christ  was  my 
substitute,  who  died  for  me,  just  so  much  He  is 
my  head,  in  whom,  and  with  whom,  I  die;  and 
just  as  He  lives  for  me,  to  intercede.  He  lives  in 
me,  to  carry  out  and  to  perfect  His  life.  And  if 
I  want  to  know  what  that  life  is  which  He  will 
live  in  me,  I  must  look  at  His  death.  By  His 
death  He  proved  that  He  possessed  life  only  to 
hold  it,  and  to  spend  it,  for  God.  To  the  very 
uttermost,  without  the  shadow  of  a  moment's  ex- 
ception. He  lived  for  God,  —  every  moment,  ever}^- 
where.  He  held  life  only  for  His  God.  And  so, 
if  one  wants  to  live  a  life  of  perfect  trust,  there 
must  be  the  perfect  surrender  of  his  life,  and  his 
will,  even  unto  the  very  death.  He  must  be  will- 
ing to  go  all  lengths  with  Jesus,  even  to  Calvary. 
When  a  boy  twelve  years  of  age  Jesus  said :  "Wist 
ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business  ?" 
and  again  when  He  came  to  Jordan  to  be  bap- 
tized: "It  becometh  us  to  fulfill  all  righteousness." 
So  on  through  all  His  life.  He  ever  said:  "It  is 
my  meat  and  drink  to  do  the  will  of  my  Father, 
I  come  not  to  do  my  own  will,  but  the  will  of 
Him  that  sent  me."  "Lo,  I  am  come  to  do  Thy 
will,  O  God."  And  in  the  agony  of  Gethsem- 
ane,  His  words  were:  "Not  my  will,  but  Thine,  be 
done." 

Some  one  says:     "I  do  indeed  desire  to  live  the 
life  of  perfect  trust;  I  desire  to  let  Christ  live  it  in 


CHRIST  OUR  LIFE  70 

me ;  I  am  longing  to  come  to  such   an    apprehen- 
sion   of  Christ  as  shall  give  me  the    certainty  that 
Christ  will  forever  abide  in   me;   I  want   to   come 
\o  the  full  assurance    that   Christ,  my  Joshua,  will 
keep  me  in  the  land  of  victory."    V/hat  is  needful 
for  that?     My  answer  is:  "Take  care  that  you   do 
not  take  a  false  Christ,  an  imaginary  Christ,  a  half 
Christ."    And  what  is  the  full   Christ?     The  full 
Christ  is   the   man   who    said,   "I  give  up  every- 
thing to  the  death  that  God    may  be    glorified.      I 
have    not  a  thought ;   I    have    not  a  wish  ;   I  would 
not  live  a  moment  except  for  the    glory  of  God." 
You  say  at  once,  "What   Christian    can  ever  at- 
tain that  ?"  Do  not  ask  that  question,  but  ask,  "  Has 
Christ  attained  it  and  does   Christ   promise  to  live 
in  me?"     Accept  Him  in    His    fullness  and  leave 
Him  to  teach  -^ow  how  far  He  can  bring   you   and 
what  He  can  work  in  you.   Make  no  conditions  or 
stipulations   about  failure,  but  cast  j^ourself  upon, 
abandon    yourself  to  this   Christ  who    lived    that 
life  of  utter  surrender  to  God  that  He    might   pre- 
pare a  new  nature  which  He  could  impart  to  you 
and  in  which  He  might   make   you    like  Himself. 
Then  you  will  be   in    the   path  by  which  He    can 
lead  you  on  to  blessed  experience   and   possession 
of  what  He  can  do  for  you.     Christ    Jesus   came 
into    the    world    with   a  commandment   from    the 
Father  that  He  should  lay   down    His  life,  and  He 
lived  with    that  one  thought  in    His   bosom    His 


80  CHRIST  OUR  LIFE 

whole  life  long.  And  the  one  thought  that  ought 
to  be  in  the  heart  of  every  believer  is  this:  "I  am 
in  the  death  with  Christ;  absolute!}^,  unchangeabl}' 
given  up  to  wait  upon  God,  that  God  may  work 
out  Plis  purpose  and  glory  in  me  from  moment  to 
moment.''  Few  attain  the  victory  and  the  enjoy, 
ment  :ind  the  full  experience  at  once.  But  this  you 
can  do:  Take  the  right  attitude  and  as  you  look  to 
Jesus  and  what  He  was,  say:  "Father,  Thou  hast 
made  me  a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature,  a  par- 
taker of  Christ.  It  is  in  the  life  of  Christ  given 
up  to  Thee  to  the  death,  in  His  power  and  indwell- 
ing, in  His  likeness,  that  I  desire  to  live  out  my  life 
before  Thee."  Death  is  a  solemn  thing,  an 
awful  thing.  In  the  Garden  it  cost  Christ  great 
agony  to  die  that  death;  and  no  wonder  it  is  not 
easy  to  us.  But  we  willingl}'  consent  when  we 
have  learned  the  secret;  in  death  alone  the  life  of 
God  will  come;  in  death  there  is  blessedness  un- 
speakable. It  was  this  made  Paul  so  willing  to 
bear  the  sentence  of  death  in  himself ;  he  knew  the 
God  w^ho  quickeneth  the  dead.  The  sentence  of 
death  is  on  ever3^thing  that  is  of  nature.  But  are  we 
willing  to  accept  it,  do  we  cherish  it?  and  are  we 
not  rather  trying  to  escape  the  sentence  or  to  for- 
get it?  We  do  not  believe  fully  that  the  sentence 
of  death  is  on  us.  Whatever  is  of  nature  must  die. 
Ask  God  to  make  you  willing  to  believe  with  your 
heart    tha*-  to  die   with   Christ  is  the  only  way  to 


CHRTST  OUR  LIFE  81 

live  in  Him.  You  ask,  "But  must  it  then  be  dy- 
ing every  day?"  Yes,  beloved;  Jesus  lived  every 
day  in  the  prospect  of  the  cross,  and  we,  in  the 
power  of  His  victorious  life,  being  made  con- 
formable to  His  death,  must  rejoice  every  day 
in  going  down  with  Him  into  death.  Take  an 
illustration.  Take  an  oak  of  some  hundred  years' 
growth.  How  was  that  oak  born  ?  In  a  grave. 
The  acorn  was  planted  in  the  ground,  a  grave  was 
made  for  it  that  the  acorn  might  die.  It  died 
and  disappeared;  it  cast  roots  downvv^ard,  and  it 
cast  shoots  upward,  and  now  that  tree  has  been 
standing  a  hundred  years.  Where  is  it  standing? 
In  its  grave;  all  the  time  in  the  very  grave  where 
the  acorn  died;  it  has  stood  there  stretching  its 
roots  deeper  and  deeper  into  that  earth  in  which 
its  grave  was  made,  and  yet,  all  the  time,  though 
it  stood  in  the  very  grave  where  it  had  died,  it  has 
been  growing  higher,  and  stronger,  and  broader, 
and  more  beautiful.  And  all  the  fruit  it  ever  bore, 
and  all  the  foliage  that  adorned  it  yeai  by  year,  it 
owed  to  that  grave  in  which  its  roots  are  cast  and 
kept.  Even  so  Christ  owes  everything  to  His 
death  and  His  grave.  And  we,  too,  owe  everything 
to  that  grave  of  Jesus.  Oh!  let  us  live  every  da}' 
rooted  in  the  death  of  Jesus.  Be  not  afraid,  but 
say:  "To  my  own  will  I  will  die;  to  human  wis- 
dom,and  human  strength,  and  to  the  world  I  will 
die;  for  it  is  in  the  grave  of  my  Lord  that  His  life 


82  CHRIST  OUR  LIFE 

has  its  beginning,  and  its  strength  and  its  glory.'' 
This  brings  us  to  our  next  thought.  First,  Christ 
received  life  from  the  Father;  second,  Christ  lived 
it  in  dependence  on  the  Father;  third,  Christ  gave 
it  up  in  death  to  the  Father;  and  now,  fourth, 
Christ  received  it  again  raised  by  the  Father,  by  the 
power  of  the  glory  of  the  Father.  Oh,  the  deep 
meaning  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  I  What  did 
Christ  do  when  He  died?  He  went  down  into  the 
darkness  and  absolute  helplessness  of  death.  He 
gave  up  a  life  that  was  without  sin  ;  a,  life  that  was 
God-given;  a  life  that  was  beautiful  and  precious; 
and  He  said,  "I  will  give  it  into  the  hands  of  my 
Father  if  He  asks  it;"  and  He  did  it;  and  He  was 
there  in  the  grave  waiting  on  God  to  do  His  will; 
and  because  He  honored  God  to  the  uttermost  in 
His  helplessness,  God  lifted  Him  up  to  the  very 
uttermost  of  glory  and  power.  Christ  lost  nothing 
b}^  giving  up  His  life  in  death  to  the  Father.  And 
so,  if  you  want  the  glory  and  the  life  of  God  to 
come  upon  you,  it  is  in  the  grave  of  utter  helpless- 
ness that  that  life  of  glory  will  be  born.  Jesus  was 
raised  from  the  dead,  and  that  resurrection  power, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  can  and  will  work  in  us.  Let 
no  one  expect  to  live  a  right  life  until  he  lives  a 
full  resurrection  life  in  the  power  of  Jesus.  Let 
me  state  in  a  different  way  what  this  resurrec- 
tion means. 

Christ  had  a  perfect  life, given  by  God.    The  Fa- 


CHRIST  OUR  LIFE  83 

ther  said:  "Will  you  give  up  that  life  to  me?     Will 
you  part  with  it  at  my  command?"  And  lie  parted 
with  it,  but  God  gave  it  back  to   Him  in   a  second 
life  ten   thousand  times   more  glorious  than   that 
earthly  life.   So  God  will  do  to  every  one  of  us  who 
willingly  consents  to  part  with  his  life.     Have  you 
ever  understood  it  ?  Jesus  was  born  twice.  The  first 
time  He  was  born  in  Bethlehem.   That  was  a  birth 
into  a  life  of  weakness.  But  the  second  time, He  was 
born  from  the  grave;  He  is  the  "first-born  from  the 
dead."     Because  He  gave  up  the  life  that  He  had 
by    His   first  birth,    God  gave  him  the  life  of  the 
second  birth,  in  the  glory  of  heaven  and  the  throne 
of  God.     Christians,  that  is  exactly  what  we  need 
to  do.     A  man  may    be  an   earnest    Christian;  a 
man   may    be  a  successful    worker;  he  may  be  a 
Christian   that  has   had  a  measure  of  growth   and 
advance;  but  if  he  has  not  entered  this  fullness  of 
blessing,  then    he   needs  to  come  to  a  second  and 
deeper   experience    of   God's    saving   power;    he 
needs,  just    as    God  brought    him  out  of    Egypt, 
through   the    Red   Sea,  to  come  to  a  point   where 
God  brings  him  through  Jordan  into  Canaan.   Be- 
loved, we   have   been   baptized   into   the  death  of 
Christ.      It  is   as   v;e   say:  "I   have    had   a    very 
blessed  life,  and  I  have  had   many    blessed   expe- 
riences, and    God  has  done  many  things  for  me; 
but  I  am  conscious  there  is  something  wrong  still; 
I  am  conscious    that  this  life  of  rest  and  victory  is 


84  CHRIST  OUR  LIFE 

not  really  mine."  Before  Christ  got  His  life  of 
rest  and  victory  on  the  throne,  He  had  to  die  and 
give  up  all.  Do  you  it,  too,  and  you  shall  with 
Him  share  His  victor}-  and  glory.  It  is  as  we 
follow  Jesus  in  His  death,  that  His  resurrection, 
power  and  jo}^  will  be  ours. 

And  then  comes  our  last  point.  The  fifth  step 
in  His  wondrous  path  was:  He  was  lifted  up  to  be 
forever  with  the  Father.  Because  He  humbled 
Himself,  therefore  God  highly  exalted  Him. 
Wherein  cometh  the  beauty  and  the  blessedness 
of  that  exaltation  of  Jesus?  For  Himself  perfect 
fellowship  with  the  Father;  for  others  participation 
in  the  power  of  God's  omnipotence.  Yes,  that 
was  the  fruit  of  His  death.  Scripture  promises 
not  only  that  God  will,  in  the  resurrection  life, 
give  us  joy,  and  peace  that  passeth  all  understand- 
ing,  victory  over  sin,  and  rest  in  God,  but  He  will 
baptize  us  with  the  Holy  Ghost;  or,  in  other 
words,  will  fill  us  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  Jesus  was 
lifted  to  the  throne  of  heaven,  that  He  might  there 
receive  from  the  Father  the  Spirit  in  His  new, 
divine  manifestation,  to  be  poured  out  in  His  full- 
ness. And  as  we  come  to  the  resurrection  life, 
the  life  in  the  faith  of  Him  who  is  one  with  us, 
and  sits  upon  the  throne— -as  we  come  to  that,  we 
too  may  be  partakers  of  the  fellowship  with  Christ 
Jesus  as  He  ever  dwells  in  God's  presence,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  will  fill  us,  to  work  in  us,  and  out 
of  us,  in  a  way  that  we  have  never  yet  known. 


CHRIST  OUR  LIFE  85 

Jesus  got  this  divine  life  by  depending  abso- 
lutely upon  the  Father  all  His  life  long,  depending 
upon  Him  even  down  into  death.  Jesus  got  that 
life  in  the  full  glory  of  the  Spirit  to  be  poured  out, 
by  giving  Himself  up  in  obedience  and  surrender 
to  God  alone,  and  leaving  God  even  in  the  grave 
to  work  out  His  mighty  power;  and  that  very 
Christ  will  live  out  His  life  in  you  and  me.  Oh, 
the  mystery!  Oh,  the  glory!  And  oh,  the  Divine 
certainty.  Jesus  Christ  means  to  live  out  that 
life  in  you  and  me.  What  think  you,  ought  we 
not  to  humble  ourselves  before  God?  Have  we 
been  Christians  so  many  years,  and  realized  so 
little  what  we  are  ?  I  am  a  vessel  set  apart,  cleansed, 
emptied,  consecrated;  just  standing,  waiting  every 
moment  for  God,  in  Christ,  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
to  work  out  in  me  as  much  of  the  holiness  and 
the  life  of  His  Son  as  pleases  Him.  And  until 
the  Church  of  Christ  comes  to  go  down  into 
the  grave  of  humiliation,  and  confession,  and 
shame ;  until  the  Church  of  Christ  comes  to  lay  itself 
in  the  very  dust  before  God,  and  to  wait  upon 
God  to  do  something  new,  and  something  won- 
derful, something  supernatural,  in  lifting  it  up,  it 
will  remain  feeble  in  all  its  efforts  to  overcome  the 
world.  Within  the  Church  what  lukewarmness, 
what  worldliness,  what  disobedience,  what  sin! 
How  can  we  ever  light  this  battle,  or  meet  these 
difficulties?  The  answer  is:  Christ,  the  risen  One, 


86  CHRIST  OUR  LIFE 

the  crowned  One,  the  almighty  One,  must  come, 
and  live  in  the  individual  members.  But  we  can 
not  expect  this  except  as  we  die  with  Him.  I 
referred  to  the  tree  grown  so  high  and  beautiful, 
with  its  roots  every  day  for  a  hundred  years  in 
the  grave  in  which  the  acorn  died.  Children  of 
God,  we  must  go  down  deeper  into  the  grave  of 
Jesus.  We  must  cultivate  the  sense  of  impotence, 
and  dependence,  and  nothingness,  until  our  souls 
walk  before  God  every  day  in  a  deep  and  holy 
trembling.  God  keep  us  from  being  anything. 
God  teach  us  to  wait  on  Him,  that  He  may  work 
in  us  all  He  wrought  in  His  Son,  till  Christ  Jesus 
may  live  out  His  life  in  usl  For  this  may  God 
help  us  I 


CHRIST'S  HUMILITY  OUR  SALVATION. 
VII. 

Philippians  2:  ^-8. — ''Let  this  mind  be  in  yotc  which  7vas 
also  in  Christ  Jestis .  He  humbled  Himself  and  became 
obedient  unto  death ^  even  the  death  of  the  cross.'' 

ALL  are  familiar  with  this  wonderful  passage. 
Paul  is  speaking  about  one  of  the  most  simple, 
practical  things  in  daily  life, — humility;  and  in 
connection  with  that,  he  gives  us  a  wonderful  ex- 
hibition of  divine  truth.  In  this  chapter  we  have  the 
eternal  Godhead  of  Jesus  —  He  was  in  the  form  of 
God,  and  one  with  God.  We  have  His  incarnation 
—  He  came  down,  and  was  found  in  the  likeness  of 
man.  We  have  his  death  with  the  atonement  — 
He  became  obedient  unto  death.  We  have  His 
exaltation  —  God  hath  highly  exalted  Him.  We 
have  the  glory  of  His  Kingdom, — that  every 
knee  shall  bow,  and  every  tongue  confess  Him. 
And  in  what  connection?  Is  it  a  theological 
study?  No.  Is  it  a  description  of  what  Christ  is? 
No;  it  is  in  connection  with  a  simple,  downright 
call  to  a  life  of  humility  in  our  intercourse  with 
each  other.  Our  life  on  earth  is  linked  to  all  the 
eternal  glojy  of  the  Godhead  as  revealed  in  the 

87 


88  CHRIST S  HUMILITY  OUR  SALVATION 

exaltation  of  Jesus.  The  very  looking  to  Jesus,  the 
very  bowing  of  the  knee  to  Jesus,  ought  to  be  in- 
separably connected  with  a  spirit  of  the  very 
deepest  humility.  Consider  the  humility  of  Jesus. 
First  of  all,  that  humility  is  our  salvation;  then, 
that  humility  is  just  the  salvation  we  need;  and 
again,  that  humility  is  the  salvation  which  the 
Holy  Spirit    will  give  us. 

Humility  is  the  salvation  that  Christ  brings. 
That  is  our  first  thought.  We  often  have  very  vague, 
—  I  might  also  say  visionary  ■ —  ideas  of  what  Christ 
is;  we  love  the  person  of  Christ,  but  that  which 
makes  up  Christ, which  actually  constitutes  Him  the 
Christ,  that  we  do  not  know  or  love.  If  we  love 
Christ  above  everything,  we  must  love  humility 
above  everything, for  humility  is  the  very  essence  of 
His  life  and  glory,  and  the  salvation  Fie  brings. 
Just  think  of  it.  Where  did  it  begin  ?  Is  there  hu- 
mility in  heaven  ?  You  know  there  is,  for  the}^ 
cast  their  crowns  before  the  throne  of  God  and 
the  Lam.b.  But  is  there  humility  on  the  throne  of 
God?  Yes,  what  was  it  butheavenl}-  humility  that 
made  Jesus  on  the  throne  willing  to  say :  "I  will  go 
down  to  be  a  servant,  and  to  die  for  man;  I  will 
go  and  live  as  the  meek  and  lowly  Lamb  of  God?" 
Jesus  brought  humility  from  heaven  to  us.  It 
was  humility  that  brought  Him  to  earth,  or  He 
never  would  have  come.  In  accordance  with 
thisj  just  as  Christ  became    a  man   in   this   divine 


CHRIST'S  HUMILITY  0 UR  SAL  VA  TIOM  SO 

humility,  so  His  whole  life  was  marked  by  it.  He 
might  have  chosen  another  form  in  which  to  ap- 
pear; He  might  have  come  in  the  form  of  a  king, 
but  He  chose  the  form  of  a  servant.  He  made 
Himself  of  no  reputation ;  He  emptied  Himself; 
He  chose  the  form  of  a  servant.  He  said:  "The 
Son  of  Man  is  not  come  to  be  ministered  unto,  to 
be  served,  but  to  serve,  and  to  give  His  life  a 
ransom  for  many."  And  you  know,  in  the  last 
night,  He  took  the  place  of  a  slave,  and  girded 
Himself  with  a  towel,  and  went  to  wash  the  feet 
of  Peter  and  the  other  disciples.  Beloved,  the 
life  of  Jesus  upon  earth  was  a  life  of  the  deepest 
humility.  It  was  this  gave  His  life  its  worth  and 
beauty  in  God's  sight.  And  then  His  death  — 
possibl}^  you  haven't  thought  of  it  much  in  this 
connection  —  but  His  death  was  an  exhibition  of 
unparalleled  humility.  "He  humbled  Himself, 
and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death 
of  the  cross."  My  Lord  Christ  took  a  low  place 
all  the  time  of  His  walk  upon  earth;  He  took  a 
very  low  place  when  He  began  to  wash  the  dis- 
ciples' feet;  but  when  He  went  to  Calvary,  He 
took  the  lowest  place  there  was  to  be  found  in  the 
universe  of  God,  the  very  lowest,  and  He  let  sin, 
and  the  curse  of  sin,  and  the  wrath  of  God,  cover 
Him.  He  took  the  place  of  a  guilty  sinner,  that 
He  might  bear  our  load,  that  He  might  serve  us 
in    saving    us   from    our    wretchedness,    that    He 


90  CHRIST S  HUMILITY  OUR  SALVATION 

might  by  His  precious  blood  win  deliverance  for 
us,  that  He  might  by  that  blood  wash  us  from  our 
stain  and  our  guilt. 

We  -are  in  danger  of  thinking  about  Christ,  as 
God,  as  man,  as  the  atonement,  as  the  Saviour,  and 
as  exalted  upon  the  throne,  and  we  form  an  image 
of  Christ,  while  the  real  Christ,  that  which  is  the 
ver}^  heart  of  His  character,  remains  unknown. 
What  is  the  real  Christ?  Divine  humility,  bowed 
down  into  the  very  depths  for  our  salvation.  The 
humility  of  Jesus  is  our  salvation.  We  read,  "He 
humbled  Himself,  therefore  God  hath  highly  ex- 
alted Him."  The  secret  of  His  exaltation  to  the 
throne  is  this:  He  humbled  Himself  before  God 
and  man.  Humility  is  the  Christ  of  God,  and  now 
in  Heaven,  to-day,  that  Christ,  the  Man  of  humil- 
ity, is  on  the  throne  of  God.  What  do  I  see?  A 
Lamb  standing,  as  it  had  been  slain,  on  the 
throne;  in  the  glory  He  is  still  the  meek  and  gen- 
tle Lamb  of  God.  His  humility  is  the  badge  He 
wears  there.  You  often  use  that  name  —  the  Lamb 
of  God  — and  you  use  it  in  connection  with  the 
blood  of  the  sacrifice.  You  sing  the  praise  of  the 
Lamb,  and  you  put  3^our  trust  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb.  Praise  God  for  the  blood.  You  never  can 
trust  that  too  much.  But  I  am  afraid  you  forget  that 
the  word  "Lamb"  must  mean  to  us  two  things: 
it  must  mean  not  only  a  sacrifice,  the  shedding  of 
blood,  but  it  must  mean  to  us  the    meekness    of 


CHRIST S  HUMILITY  OUR  SALVATION  91 

God,  incarnate  upon  earth,  the   meekness  of   God 
represented  in  the  meekness   and    gentleness  of  a 

little  Lamb. 

But  the  salvation  that  Christ  brought  is  not  only 
a  salvation  that  flows  out  of  humility;  it  also  leads 
to  humility.     We  must  understand   that  this  is  not 
only  the  salvation  which  Christ  brought;  but  that 
it  is  exactly  the  salvation  which   you   and  I  need. 
What    is    the    cause    of  all    the    wretchedness    of 
man?    Primarily  pride;  man  seeking  his  own  will 
and  his    own    glory.     Yes,  pride    is  the    root   of 
every  sin,  and  so  the  Lamb  of  God  comes  to  us  in 
our    pride,    and  brings  us  salvation  from  it.     V/e 
need  above  everything  to  be  saved  from  our  pride 
and  our  self-will.     It  is  good  to  be  saved  from  the 
sins  of  stealing,  murdering,  and  every  other   evil; 
but  a  man  needs  above  all  to  be  saved    from  what 
is  the  root  of  all  sin,  his    self-will    and  his  pride. 
It  is  not  until  man  begins  to  feel  that  this  is  exactly 
the  salvation  he  needs,  that  he   really   can  under- 
stand what  Christ  is,  and  that  he  can  accept    Him 
as  his  salvation.     This  is  the  salvation   that  we  as 
Christians  and  believers  specially  need.     We  know 
the  sad  story  of  Peter  and  John;  what   their  self- 
will  and  pride  brought  upon  them.    They  needed 
to  be  saved  from  nothing   except   themselves,  and 
that  is  the  lesson  which  we  must  learn,  if  we  are  to 
enter  the  life  of  rest.     And  how  can  we  enter  that 
life,  and  dwell  there  in  the  bosom  of  the  Lamb  of 


92  CHRIST S  HUMILITY  G  UR  SAL  VA  TION 

God,  if  pride  rules?  Have  we  not  often  heard 
complaints  of  how  much  there  is  of  pride  in  the 
Church  of  Christ?  What  is  the  cause  of  all  the 
division,  and  strife,  and  envying,  that  is  often 
found  even  among  God's  saints?  Why  is  it  that 
often  in  a  family  there  is  bitterness  —  it  may  be  only 
for  half  an  hour,  or  half  a  day;  but  what  is  the 
cause  of  hard  judgments  and  hasty  words?  W^hat 
is  the  cause  of  estrangement  between  friends? 
What  is  the  cause  of  evil  speaking?  What  is  the 
cause  of  selfishness  and  indifference  to  the  feelings 
of  others?  Simply  this:  the  pride  of  man.  He 
lifts  himself  up,  and  he  claims  the  right  to  have 
his  opinions  and  judgments  as  he  pleases.  The 
salvation  we  need  is  indeed  humility,  because  it  is 
only  through  humility  that  we  can  be  restored  to 
our  right  relation  to  God. 

"Waiting  upon  God,"  —  that  is  the  onl}^  true  ex- 
pression for  the  real  relation  of  the  creature  to  God  ; 
to  be  nothing  before  God.  What  is  the  essential 
idea  of  a  creature  made  by  God?  It  is  this:  to  be 
a  vessel  in  which  He  can  pour  out  His  fullness, 
in  which  He  can  exhibit  His  life,  His  goodness. 
His  power,  and  His  love.  A  vessel  must  be  empty 
if  it  is  to  be  filled,  and  if  we  are  to  be  filled  with 
the  life  of  God  we  must  be  utterly  empty  of  self. 
This  is  the  glory  of  God,  that  He  is  to  fill  all 
things,  and  more  especial)}^  His  redeemed  people. 
And  as  this  is  the  glory  of  the  creature,  so  this  is 


CHRIST S  IIUMIUTY  OUR  SALVATION  03 

the  only  redemption,  and  the  only  glory  of  every 
redeemed  soul,  to  be  empty  and  as  nothing  before 
God;  to  wait  upon  Him,  and  to  let  God  be  all  in 
all. 

Humility  has  a  prominent  place  in  almost  every 
epistle  of  the  New  Testament.  Paul  says:  "Walk 
Vv'ith  all  lowliness  and  meekness,  with  longsuffer- 
ing,  forbearing  one  another  in  love;  endeavoring 
to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of 
peace."  The  nearer  you  get  to  God,  and  the 
fuller  of  God,  the  lowlier  you  will  be;  and  equally 
before  God  and  man,  you  will  love  to  bow  very 
low.  We  know  of  Peter's  early  self-confidence; 
but  in  his  epistles  what  a  different  language  he 
speaks!  He  wrote  there:  "Let  the  younger  be 
subject  to  the  elder,  and  all  of  you  be  subject 
one  to  another;  humble  yourselves  under  the 
mighty  hand  of  God,  that  He  may  exalt  you  in 
His  own  time."  He  understood,  and  he  dared  to 
preach,  humility  to  all.  It  is  indeed  the  salvation 
we  need.  What  is  it  that  prevents  people  from 
coming  to  that  entire  surrender  that  we  speak  of? 
Simply  that  they  dare  not  abandon  themselves, 
and  trust  themselves,  to  God;  that  they  are  not 
willing  to  be  nothing,  to  give  up  their  wishes,  and 
their  will,  and  their  honor  to  Christ.  Shall  we 
not  accept  the  salvation  that  Jesus  offers?  He 
gave  up  His  own  will;  He  gave  up  His  own 
honor;   He  gave  up    any   confidence   in  Himself; 


94  '  CHRISrS  HUMILITY  OUR  SALVATION 

He  lived  dependent  upon  God  as  a  servant  whom 
the  Father  had  sent,  There  is  the  salvation  we 
need,  the  Spirit  of  humility  that  was  in  Christ. 

What  is  it  that  often  disturbs  our  hearts,  and  our 
peace?  It  is  pride  seeking  to  be  something.  And 
God's  decree  is  irreversible,  "God  resisteth  the 
proud;  He  gives  grace  only  to  the  humble." 
How  often  Jesus  had  to  speak  to  his  disciples 
about  it!  You  will  find  repeatedly  in  the  Gospel 
those  simple  words:  "He  that  humbleth  Himself 
shall  be  exalted;  he  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be 
humbled."  He  taught  His  disciples:  "He  that 
would  be  chiefest  among  you,  let  him  be  the  serv- 
ant of  all."  This  should  be  our  one  cry  before 
God:  "Let  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  come 
upon  me,  with  the  humility  of  Jesus,  that  I  may 
take  the  place  that  He  took."  Brother,  do  you 
want  a  better  place  than  Jesus  had?  Are  you 
seeking  a  higher  place  than  Jesus?  Or  will  you 
say:  "Down,  down,  as  deep  as  ever  I  can  go. 
By  the  help  of  God  I  will  be  nothing  before  God; 
I  will  be  where  Jesus  was." 

And  now  comes  the  third  thought,  — This  is  the 
salvation  the  Holy  Ghost  brings.  You  know  what 
a  change  took  place  io  those  disciples.  Let  us 
praise  God  for  it;  the  Holy  Spirit  means  this:  the 
life,  the  disposition,  the  temper,  and  the  incli- 
nations of  Jesus,  brought  down  from  heaven  into 
our  hearts.     That  is   the   Holy   Ghost.     He    has 


CHRIST S  HUMILITY  OUR  SALVATIOiV  05 

His  mighty  workings  to  bestow  as   gifts;  but   the 
fullness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  this:  Jesus  Christ  in 
His  humility  coming  to  dwell  in  us.   When  Christ 
was  teaching    His   disciples,  all   His    instructions 
may  have  helped  in  the  way  of  preparation,  break- 
ing them  down,  and    making   them    conscious    of 
what  was  wrong,  and  awakening   desire;  but   the 
instruction  could  not  do    it,  and   all   their   love   to 
Jesus  and  their  desiie  to   please    Him    could    not 
do  it,  until  the   Holy   Ghost   came.     That   is   the 
promise  Christ  gave.   He  says,  in  connection  with 
the    coming    of   the    Holy    Ghost:  "I  will    come 
again  to  you."     Christ  said  to  His   disciples:     "I 
have  been  three   years   with  you,  and  you   have 
been   in   the   closest  contact  with  me,  and  I  have 
done    the    utmost    to    reach    your    hearts;  I  have 
sought  to  get  into    your    hearts,  yet  I  have  failed ; 
but  fear  not,  I  will  come  again.      In   that  day  ye 
shall  see  me,  and  your  hearts  shall  rejoice,  and  no 
man  shall  take  your  joy  from  you.     I   will   come 
again  to  dwell  in  you,  and  live   my   life   in   you." 
Christ    went    to    heaven    that     He    might    get    a 
power  which  He  never  had  before.   And  what  was 
that?     The    power    of    livingf    in     men.     God    be 
praised  for  this!     It  was  because  Jesus,  the   hum- 
ble One,  the  Lamb  of   God,  the  meek,  the    lowly 
and   gentle    One,  came   down    in  the  Holy  Spirit 
into  the  hearts  of  His  disciples,  that  the  pride  was 
expelled,  and    that    the   very    breath    of    Heaven 


96  CHRIS rS  HUMILITY  OUR  SALVATION 

breathed  through  Him  in  the  love  that  made  them 
one  heart  and  one  soul. 

Dear  friends,  Christ  is  yours.  Christ  as  He 
comes  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  yours. 
Are  you  longing  to  have  Him,  to  have  the  perfect 
Christ  Jesus?  Come,  then,  and  see  how,  amid 
the  glories  of  His  Godhead  —  His  having  been  in 
the  form  of  God,  and  equal  to  God;  amid  the 
glories  of  His  incarnation  —  His  having  become 
a  man ;  amid  the  glories  of  His  atonement  —  His 
having  been  obedient  to  death  ;  and  amid  the  glories 
of  His  exaltation,  which  is  the  chief  and  brightest 
glory, He  humbled  Himself  from  Heaven  down  to 
earth  and  on  earth  down  to  the  cross.  He  humbled 
Himself  to  bear  the  name  and  show  the  meekness, 
and  die  the  death  of  the  Lamb  of  God.  And  what 
is  it  we  now  need  to  do?  How  are  we  to  be  saved 
by  this  humility  of  Jesus?  It  is  a  solemn  question, 
but,  thank  God,  the  answer  can  be  given.  First 
we  must  desire  it  above  everything.  Let  us  learn 
to  pray  God  to  deliver  us  from  everj^  vestige  of 
pride,  for  this  is  a  cursed  thing.  Let  us  learn  to  set 
aside  for  a  time  other  things  in  the  Christian  life, 
and  begin  to  plead  with  the  Lamb  of  God  day  bj- 
day,  '^O  Lam.b  of  God,  I  know  Thy  love,  but  I 
know  so  little  of  Thy  meekness."  Come  day  after 
day,  and  lay  your  heart  against  His  heart,  and 
say  to  Him  with  strong  desire:  "Jesus,  Lamb  of 
God,  give,  oh,  give  me  Thyself,  with  Thy   meek- 


CHRIST S  HUMILITY  OUR  SALVATION'  97 

ness  and  humility,"  and  He  will  fulfill  the  desire 
of  them  that  fear  Him.  It  is  not  enough  to  desire 
it  and  to  pray  for  it;  claim  and  accept  it  as  yours. 
This  humilJtj^  is  given  you  in  Christ  Jesus.  Christ 
is  our  life.  What  does  that  mean?  Oh,  that  God 
might  give  you  and  me  a  vision  of  what  that 
means!  The  air  is  our  life,  and  the  air  is  every- 
where, universal.  We  breathe  without  difficult}^ 
because  God  surrounds  us  with  the  air;  and  is  the 
air  nearer  to  me  than  Christ  is?  The  sun  gives 
light  to  every  green  leaf  and  every  blade  of  grass, 
shining  hour  by  hour  and  moment  by  moment. 
And  is  the  sun  nearer  to  the  blade  of  grass  than 
Christ  is  to  man's  soul?  Verily,  no;  Christ  is 
around  us  on  every  side;  Christ  is  pressing  on  us 
to  enter,  and  there  is  nothing  in  heaven,  or  earth, 
or  hell,  that  can  keep  the  light  of  Christ  from 
shining  into  the  heart  that  is  empty  and  open.  If 
the  windows  of  your  room  were  closed  with  shut- 
ters, the  light  could  not  enter;  it  would  be  on  the 
outside  of  the  building,  streaming  and  streaming 
against  the  shutters;  but  it  could  not  enter.  But 
leave  the  windows  without  shutters,  and  the  light 
comes,  it  rejoices  to  come  in  and  fill  the  room. 
Even  so,  children  of  God,  Jesus  and  His  light, 
Jesus  and  His  humilit}^  are  around  you  on  every 
side,  longing  to  enter  into  your  hearts.  Come 
and  take  Him  to-day  in  His  blessed  meekness 
and  gentleness.     Do  not  be  afraid  of  Ilim;  He  is 


m  CHRIS rS  HUMILITY  O  UR  SAL  VA  TION- 

the  Lamb  of  God.  He  is  so  patient  with  y  ou, 
He  is  so  kindly  towards  you,  He  is  so  lender  and 
loving.  Take  courage  to-day  and  trust  Jesus  to 
come  into  your  heart  and  take  possession  of  it. 
And  when  He  has  taken  possession,  there  will  be 
a  life  day  by  day  of  blessed  fellowship  with  Him, 
and  you  will  feel  a  necessity  ever  deeper  for  your 
quiet  time  with  Him,  and  for  worshiping  and 
adoring  Him,  and  for  just  sinking  down  before 
Him  in  helplessness  and  humility,  and  saying: 
"Jesus,  I  am  nothing,  and  Thou  art  all."  It  will 
be  a  blessed  life,  because  you  will  be  conscious  of 
being  at  the  feet  of  Jesus.  At  this  moment  you 
can  claim  Jesus  in  His  divine  humility  as  the  life 
of  your  soul.  Will  you?  Will  you  not  open  your 
heart,  and  say:  "Come  in;  come  in?" 

Come  to-day,  and  take  Him  up  afresh  in  this 
blessed  power  of  His  wonderful  humilit}^,  and  say 
to  Him:  "Oh,  Thou  who  didst  say,  'Learn  of 
me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  ye  shall 
find  rest  unto  your  souls,'  my  Lord, I  know  why  it  is 
that  I  have  not  the  perfect  life;  it  is  my  pride,  but 
to-day,  come  Thou  and  dwell  in  my  heart.  Thou 
who  didst  lead  even  Peter  and  John  into  the 
blessedness  of  Thy  heavenly  humility;  Thou  wilt 
not  refuse  me.  Lord,  here  I  am;  do  Thou,  who 
by  Thy  wonderful  humility  alone  canst  save,  come 
in.  O  Lamb  of  God,  I  believe  in  Thee;  take 
possession  of  my  heart,  and  dwell  in  me."    When 


CHRIST S  IIUMILirV  OUR  SALVATION  CO 

you  have  said  that,  go  out  in  quiet,  and  retire, 
walking  gently  as  holding  the  Lamb  of  God  in 
your  heart,  and  say:  "I  have  received  the  Lamb 
of  God;  He  makes  my  heart  His  care;  He 
breathes  His  humility  and  dependence  en  God 
in  me,  and  so  brings  me  to  God.  His  humility  is 
my  life  and  salvation." 


THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER. 
VIII. 

Genesis  ^g:  i-J. — Joseph  zvas  brought  do7un  to  Egypt;  and 
Potiphar,  an  officer  of  Pharaoh,  captain  of  the  guard,  an 
£(ryptian,  bought  him  at  the  hands  of  the  Ishmaelites, 
which  had  brought  him  down  thither.  And  the  Lord  was 
with  Joseph,  and  he  was  a  prosperotis  juan;  and  he  was 
in  the  house  op  his  master,  the  Egyptian,  and  his  master 
saw  that  the  Lord  was  with  him. 

WE  have  in  this  passage  an  object,  lesson  which 
teaches  us  what  Christ  is  to  us.  Note :  Joseph 
was  a  slave,  but  God  was  with  him  so  distinctly 
that  his  master  could  see  it.  ''And  his  master 
saw  the  Lord  was  with  him,  and  that  the  Lord 
made  all  that  he  did  prosper  in  his  hands;  and 
Joseph  found  grace  in  his  sight,  and  he  served 
him,"  —  that  is  to  say,  he  was  his  slave  about  his 
person, —"and  he  made  him  overseer  over  his 
house,"  —  that  was  something  new.  Joseph  had 
been  a  slave,  but  now  he  becomes  a  master.  "And 
he  made  him  overseer  over  his  house,  and  all  that 
he  had  he  put  into  his  hands.  And  it  came  to 
pass,  from  the  time  that  he  had  made  him  over- 
seer in  his  house,  and  over  all  that  he  had, that  the 
Lord  blessed  the  Egyptian's   house  for   Joseph's 

100 


THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER  101 

sake,  and  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  was  upon  all 
that  he  had  in  the  house  and  in  the  field.  And  he 
left  all  that  he  had  in  Joseph's  hand;  and  he  knew 
not  all  he  had,  save  the  bread  which  he  did  eat." 
We  find  Joseph  in  two  characters  in  the  house  of 
Potiphar:  first  as  a  servant  and  a  slave,  one  who 
is  trusted  and  loved,  but  still  entirely  a  servant; 
second,  as  master.  Potiphar  made  him  overseer 
over  his  house  and  his  lands,  and  all  that  he  had, 
so  that  we  read  afterward  that  he  left  everything 
in  his  hands,  and  he  knew  of  nothing  except  the 
bread  that  came  upon  his  table.  I  want  to  call 
your  attention  to  Joseph  as  a  type  of  Christ.  We 
sometimes  speak  in  the  Christian  life,  of  entire 
surrender,  and  rightl}',  and  here  we  have  a  beau- 
tiful illustration  of  what  it  is.  First,  Joseph  was 
in  Potiphar's  house  to  serve  him  and  to  help  him, 
and  he  did  that,  and  Potiphar  learned  to  trust  him, 
so  that  he  said,  "All  that  I  have  I  will  give  into 
his  hands."  Now,  that  is  exactly  what  is  to  take 
place  with  a  great  many  Christians.  They  know 
Christ,  they  trust  Him,  they  love  Him,  but  He  is 
not  Master,  He  is  a  sort  of  helper.  When  there 
is  trouble  they  come  to  Him,  when  they  sin  they 
ask  Him  for  pardon  in  His  precious  blood,  when 
they  are  in  darkness  they  cry  to  Him;  but  often 
and  often  they  live  according  to  their  own  will, 
and  they  seek  help  from  themselves.  But  how 
blessed  is  the  man  who  comes  and,  like  Potiphar, 


102  THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER 

says,  "I  will  give  up  everything  to  Jesus!'' 
There  are  many  who  have  accepted  Christ  as  their 
Lord,  but  have  never  yet  come  to  the  final,  abso- 
lute surrender  of  everything.  Christians,  if  you 
want  perfect  rest,  abiding  joy,  strength  to  work 
for  God,  oh,  come  and  learn  from  that  poor  heathen 
Egyptian  what  you  ought  to  do.  He  saw  that 
God  was  with  Joseph  and  he  said,  "I  will  give  up 
my  house  to  him."  Oh,  learn  you  to  do  that. 
There  are  some  who  have  never  yet  accepted 
Christ,  some  who  are  seeking  after  Him,  thirsting 
and  hungering,  but  they  do  not  know  how  to  find 
Him. 

Let  me  direct  your  attention  to  four  thoughts  re- 
garding this  surrender  to  Christ :  First,  its  motives ; 
second,  its  measures;  third,  its  blessedness;  lastly, 
its  duration. 

First  of  all,  its  motives.  What  moved  Potiphar 
to  do  this?  I  think  the  answer  is  very  easy: 
he  was  a  trusted  servant  of  the  king  and  he 
had  the  king's  work  to  take  care  of,  and  he 
very  likel}^  could  not  take  care  of  his  own  house. 
All  his  time  and  attention  were  required  at  the 
court  of  Pharaoh.  He  had  his  duty  there;  he 
was  in  high  honor;  but  his  own  house  got  neg- 
lected. Very  likely  he  had  had  other  overseers, 
one  slave  appointed  to  rule  the  others,  and  perhaps 
that  one  had  been  unfaithful,  or  dishonest,  and 
somehow  his  house  was  not  as  he  would    have  it. 


THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER  103 

So  he  buys  another  slave,  just  as  he  had  formerly 
done,  but  in  this  case  he  sees  what  he  had  never 
seen  before.  There  is  something  unusual  about 
the  man.  He  walks  so  humbly,  he  serves  so  faith- 
fully and  so  lovingly,  and  withal  so  successfully. 
Potiphar  begins  to  look  into  the  reason  for  this, 
andrinally  concludes  that  God  is  with  him. 

It  is  a  grand  thing  to  have  a  man  with  whom 
God  is,  to  entrust  one's  business  to.  The  heathen 
realized  this,  and  between  the  need  of  his  own 
house  and  what  he  saw  in  Joseph,  he  decided  to 
make  him  overseer.  I  ask  you,  do  not  these  two 
motives  plead  most  urgently  that  you  should  say: 
"I  will  make  Jesus  master  over  my  whole  being?" 
Your  house.  Christian,  your  spiritual  life,  the 
dwelling,  the  temple  of  God  in  your  heart, — in 
what  state  is  that?  Is  it  not  often  like  the  temple 
of  old,  in  Jerusalem,  that  had  been  defiled  and 
made  a  house  of  merchandise,  and  afterwards 
a  den  of  thieves?  Your  heart,  meant  to  be  the 
home  of  Jesus,  is  it  not  often  full  of  sin  and  dark- 
ness, full  of  sadness,  full  of  vexation?  You  have 
done  your  very  best  to  get  it  changed,  and  you 
have  called  in  the  help  of  man,  and  the  help  of 
means;  you  have  used  every  method  you  coi:Id 
think  of  for  getting  it  put  right;  but  it  will  not 
come  right  until  He  whose  it  is,  comes  in  to  take 
charge. 

If  there  is  any  trouble  in  your  heart,  if  you   are 


104  THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER 

in  darkness,  or  in  the  power  of  sin,  I  bring  to  3^ou 
the  Son  of  God,  with  the  promise  that  He  will 
come  in  and  take  charge.  As  Potiphar  took 
Joseph,  will  you  not  take  Jesus?  Has  He  not 
proven  Himself  worthy  to  be  trusted?  Come 
and  say,  "Jesus  shall  have  entire  charge;  He  is 
worthy."  Think  not  only  of  His  Divine  power, 
but  think  of  His  wonderful  love;  think  of  His 
coming  from  heaven  to  save  you;  think  of  His 
dying  on  Calvary  and  shedding  His  blood  out  of 
intense  love  for  you.  Oh,  think  of  it;  Christ  in 
Leaven  loves  every  one  who  is  given  to  Him,  and 
whom  He  has  made  a  child  of  God.  "Having 
loved  His  own  that  were  in  the  world.  He  loved 
them  unto  the  end." 

Must  I  plead  in  the  name  of  the  love  of  the  cruci- 
fied Jesus;  must  I  plead  with  you  Christians,  and 
say.  Look  at  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  your  Re- 
deemer, and  ask  you  to  make  Him  overseer  over 
all?  Give  Him  charge  of  yourtemper,your  heart's 
affections,  your  thoughts,  your  whole  being,  and 
He  will  prove  Himself  worthy  of  it.  Joseph  had 
been  for  a  time  just  a  common  slave,  and  with  the 
other  slaves  had  served  Pharaoh.  Alas!  many  a 
Christian  has  used  Christ  for  his  own  advancement 
and  comfort, just  as  he  uses  everything  in  the  world. 
He  uses  father  and  mother,  minister,  money,  and 
all  else  the  world  will  give,  to  comfort  and  make 
him  happy;  there  is  danger  of   his   using    Christ 


THE  CO  Mr  LET E  SURRENDER  10.') 

Jesus  in  the  same  way.  But  oh,  brethren,  this  is 
not  right.  You  are  His  house,  and  He  has  a  right 
to  dwell  therein.  Will  you  not  come  and  surren- 
der all,  and  say,  "Lord  Jesus,  I  liave  made  Thee 
overseer  over  all?" 

But  now,  secondly,  the  measure  of  that  surren- 
der. We  read  in  the  4th  verse:  "All  that  he 
had  he  put  into  his  hands."  Then  in  verse  5 : 
"And  it  came  to  pass  from  the  time  that  he  made 
him  overseer  over  all  that  he  had"  —  there  you 
have  it  the  second  time  —  "the  Lord  blessed  the 
Egyptian's  house,  and  the  blessing  of  the  Lord 
was  upon  all  that  he  had"  —  there  the  third  time. 
Then  in  verse  6:  "And  he  left  all  that  he  had"  — 
there  you  have  the  words  the  fourth  time  —  "in 
Joseph's  hand,  and  he  knew  not  all  he  had,  save 
the  bread  which  he  did  eat."  What  do  I  see  here? 
That  Potiphar  actually  gave  everything  into 
Joseph's  hands.  He  made  him  master  over  his 
slaves.  All  the  money  was  put  into  Joseph's 
hands,  for  we  read  that  Potiphar  had  care  of  noth- 
ing. When  dinner  was  brought  upon  the  table, 
he  ate  of  it,  and  that  was  all  he  knew  of  what  was 
going  on  in  his  house.  Is  not  this  entire  surrender? 
—  he  gives  up  everything  into  the  hands  of  Joseph. 
Ah,  beloved  Christians,  I  want  you  to  ask  your- 
selves: "Have  I  done  that?"  You  have  offered  more 
than  one  consecration  prayer,  and  you  have  more 
than    once    said:     "Jesus,  all    I    have    I    give    to 


108  THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER 

Thee."  You  have  said  it,  and  meant  it;  but  very 
probably  you  did  not  realize  fully  what   it  meant. 

With  the  word  surrender  there  seems  always  to  be 
a  larger  and  more  comprehensive  meaning.  We 
do  not  succeed  in  carrying  out  our  intentions,  and 
afterward  we  take  back  one  thing  and  another 
until  we  have  lost  sight  of  our  original  intention. 
Beloved  Christians,  let  Christ  Jesus  have  all. 
Let  Him  have  your  whole  heart,  with  its  affections; 
He  Himself  loves,  with  more  than  the  love  of 
Jonathan.  Let  Him  have  your  whole  heart,  saying, 
"Jesus,  every  fiber  of  my  being,  ever  power  of  my 
soul,  shall  be  devoted  to  Thee."  He  will  accept 
that  surrender.  He  spoke  a  solemn  word:  "You 
must  hate  father  and  mother."  Say  you  to-day : 
"Lord  Jesus,  the  love  to  father  and  mother,  to 
wife  and  child,  to  brother  and  sister,  I  give  up  to 
Thee.  Teach  Thou  me  how  to  love  Thee.  I  have 
only  one  desire,  which  is  to  love  Thee.  I  want  to 
give  my  whole  heart  to  be  full  of  Thy  love." 

But  when  you  have  given  your  heart,  there  is 
yet  more  to  give.  There  is  the  head  —  the  brain 
with  its  thoughts.  I  believe  Christians  do  not  know 
how  much  they  rob  Christ  of  in  reading  so  much 
of  the  literature  of  the  world.  They  are  often  so 
occupied  with  their  newspapers  that  the  Bible  gets 
a  very  small  place.  Oh,  friends,  I  beseech  you 
bring  this  noble  power  which  God  has  given  you, 
the  power  of  a  mind   that   can   think   heavenly, 


THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER  107 

eternal,  and  infinite  things,  and  lay  it  at,  the  feet 
of  Jesus,  saying,  "Lord  Jesus,  every  faculty  of  my 
being  I  want  to  surrender  to  Thee,  that  Thou 
shouldst  teach  me  what  to  think,  and  how  to  think, 
for  Thee  and  Thy  Kingdom."  Bless  God,  there 
are  men  who  have  given  their  intellect  to  Jesus, 
and  it  has  been  accepted  by  Him.  And  in  this 
connection  there  is  my  whole  outer  life.  There 
is  my  relation  to  society,  my  position  among  men, 
my  intercourse  in  my  own  home,  with  friends  and 
family ;  there  is  my  money,  my  time,  my  business; 
all  these  should  be  put  in  the  hands  of  Jesus.  One 
cannot  know  beforehand  the  blessedness  of  this 
surrender,  but  blessed  it  surely  is.  Come,  because 
He  is  worthy;  come  because  you  know  you  can 
not  keep  things  right  yourself,  and  make  Christ 
master  over  all  you  have.  Give  father  and  mother, 
wife  and  child,  house  and  land,  and  money,  all  to 
Jesus,  and  you  will  find  that  in  giving  all  you  re- 
ceive it  back  an  hundred  fold. 

Thirdly,  look  at  the  blessing  of  the  entire  sur- 
render. You  have  here  the  remarkable  words: 
"And  it  came  to  pass  from  the  time  that  Potiphar 
made  Joseph  overseer  over  all  that  he  had,  that  the 
Lord  blessed  the  Egyptian's  house  for  Joseph's 
sake,  and  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  was  upon  all 
that  he  had  in  the  house,  and  in  the  field."  I  ask 
you  Christians,  If  God  did  this  to  that  heathen 
man,  because    he    honored   Joseph;    if    God,    for 


108  THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER 

Joseph's  sake,  blessed  that  Egyptian  in  this 
wonderfal  way,  may  a  Christian  not  venture  to 
say:  "If  I  put  my  life  into  the  hands  of  Jesus, 
I  am  sure  God  will  bless  all  that  I  have?"  Oh, 
dare  to  say  it.  Potiphar  trusted  Joseph  implicitly 
and  absolutely,  and  there  was  prosperity  every- 
where, because  God  was  with  Joseph.  Beloved 
friends,  if  you  but  surrender  everything,  depend 
upon  it,  the  blessing  from  that  time  will  be  yours. 
There  will  be  a  blessing  within  your  own  inner 
life,  and  a  blessing  in  your  outer  life.  He  blessed 
Potiphar  in  the  house,  in  the  field,  everywhere. 

Oh,  Christian,  what  is  that  blessing  you  will  get? 
I  can  not  tell  ail,  but  I  can  tell  you  this:  if  370uv»/ill 
come  to  Christ  Jesus  and  surrender  all,  the  blessing 
of  God  will  be  on  all  that  you  have.  There  will  be 
a  blessing  for  your  own  soul.  "Thou  wilt  keep  him 
in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  Thee." 
Try  that;  trust  Jesus  for  everything, and  trust  every- 
thing to  Him,  and  the  blessing  of  God  will  come 
upon  you  —  the  sweet  rest,  the  rest  of  faith.  It  is  all 
in  the  hands  of  Jesus;  He  will  guide  you;  He  will 
teach  you  ;  He  will  work  in  you ;  He  will  keep  you ; 
He  will  be  everything  to  you.  What  a  blessed  rest 
and  freedom  from  responsibility  and  from  care,  be- 
cause it  is  all  in  the  hands  of  Jesus!  I  do  not  say 
trouble  and  trial' will  never  come;  but  in  the  midst 
of  trial  and  trouble  you  will  have  the  all-sufficiency 
of  the  presence  of  Jesus  to  be  your  comfort,  your 


THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER  109 

help,  and  your  guide.  Joseph  was  sold  by  his 
brethren,  but  he  saw  God  in  it,  and  he  was  quite 
content.  Christ  was  betrayed  by  Judas,  condemned 
by  Caiaphas,  and  given  over  to  execution  by  Pi- 
late; but  in  all  that,  Christ  saw  God,  and  He  was 
content.  Give  over  your  life,  in  all  its  phases, 
into  the  hands  of  Jesus;  remembering  that  the  very 
hairs  of  your  head  are  numbered,  and  not  a  spar- 
row falls  to  earth  without  the  Father's  notice. 
Consent  now  and  say:  "I  will  give  up  everything 
into  the  hands  of  Jesus.  Whatever  happens  is  His 
will  regarding  me.  Whether  He  comes  in  the 
light  or  in  the  dark,  in  the  storm  or  on  the  troubled 
sea,  I  will  rest  in  that  blessed  assurance.  I  give 
up  my  whole  life  entirely  to  Him." 

In  reading  the  Book  of  Jonah,  we  find  God's 
hand  in  each  step  of  Jonah's  experience.  It  was 
God  who  sent  the  storm  when  Jonah  went  aboard 
the  ship,  who  appointed  a  whale  to  swallow  him, 
who  ordered  the  whale  to  cast  him  out;  and  then 
afterwards  it  was  God  who  caused  the  hot  wind 
to  blow  when  the  sun  was  sending  down  its  scorch- 
ing rays,  until  the  soul  of  Jonah  was  grieved,  and 
made  the  gourd  to  grow,  and  sent  the  worm  to 
kill  the  gourd,  and  set  a  sea-wind  to  dry  the  gourd 
up  quickly.  Do  we  not  thus  see  that  every  cir- 
cumstance of  our  living,  every  comfort  and  every 
trial,  comes  from  God  in  Christ?  There  is  nothing 
can  touch  a  hair  of  my  head.      Not  a  sharp  word 


110  THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER 

comes  against  me;  not  an  unexpected  flurry  sur- 
rounds me,  but  it  is  all  Jecus.  With  my  life  in 
His  hands,  I  need  care  for  nothing.  I  can  be 
content  with  what  Jesus  gives. 

God  blessed  Potiphar  in  the  field ;  in  the  visible 
life  outside  of  his  house;  and  God  will  bless  you, 
that,  in  your  intercourse  with  men,  you  may  be 
a  blessing;  that  by  your  holy,  humble,  respectful, 
quiet  walk,  you  may  carr}^  comfort;  that  by  your 
loving  readiness  to  be  a  servant  and  a  helper  to  all, 
you  may  prove  what  the  Spirit  of  God  has  done 
within  you.  Oh,  my  brother,  my  sister,  you  have 
no  conception  of  it,  ■ — I  have  not  —  how  God  is 
willing  to  bless  the  soul  utterly  given  up  to  Jesus. 
God  can  delight  in  nothing  but  Jesus.  God  de- 
lights infinitely  in  Jesus.  God  longs  to  see  nothing 
in  us  but  Jesus,  and  if  I  give  up  my  heart  and 
life  to  Jesus,  and  say,  "My  God,  I  want  that  Thou 
shouldst  see  in  me  nothing  but  Jesus,"  then  I 
bring  to  the  Father  the  sacrifice  that  is  the  most 
acceptable  of  all.  Oh,  believers,  come  to-day; 
come  out  of  all  your  troubles,  and  all  your  self- 
efforts  and  your  self-confidence,  and  let  the  blessed 
Son  of  God  take  possesion. 

Let  me  direct  your  thoughts,  lastly,  to  the  du- 
ration of  this  surrender.  I  want  to  emphasize  this 
—  because  in  many  cases  the  surrender  does  not 
last.  Some  go  away,  and  for  a  time  have  much 
gladness  and  joy,  but  it  soon  begins  to  decrease, 


THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER  111 

and  in  a  few  weeks  or  perhaps  months  is  all  gone. 
Others  who  do  not  lose  it  entirely,  complain  sadly 
at  times,  that  it  goes  away  and  comes  again.  They 
say:  "My  life  has  been  very  much  blessed  since 
that  surrender  I  made  to  God,  but  it  has  not  al- 
ways been  on  the  same  level."  What  did  Potiphar 
do?  We  read  in  the  4th  verse:  "He  made  him 
overseer  over  his  house,  and  all  that  he  had  he 
left  in  Joseph's  hands."  What  a  simple  vCord! 
He  left  it  there. 

And  oh,  children  of  God,  if  j^ou  will  onh^  get 
to  that  point  and  say,  "For  all  eternity  I  leave  it 
in  the  hands  of  Jesus,"  you  will  find  what  a  bless- 
ing it  is.  Potiphar  found  now  that  he  could  do 
the  king's  business  with  two  hands  and  an  un- 
divided heart.  I  might  try  to  rescue  a  drowning 
man  by  holding  fast  somewhere  with  one  hand, 
while  I  reached  out  the  other  hand  to  the  man, 
but  it  is  a  grand  thing  for  a  person  to  be  able  to 
stretch  out  both  hands,  and  that  person  is  the  one 
who  has  left  all  with  Jesus  —  all  his  inner  life,  all 
his  cares  and  troubles,  and  has  given  himself  up 
entirely  to  do  the  will  of  God.  Will  you  leave  it 
there?  I  must  press  this,  because  I  know  temp- 
tations will  come.  One  temptation  will  be  that 
the  feelings  you  had  in  your  act  of  surrender  will 
pass  away;  they  will  not  be  so  bright;  another, 
that  circumstances  will  tempt  you.  Beloved,  temp- 
tations will  come;  God  means  it  for  your  good. 


112  THE  COMPLETE  SURRENDER 

Every  temptation  brings  you  a  blessing.  Do  un- 
derstand that.  Learn  the  lesson  of  giving  up 
everything  to  Jesus,  and  letting  Jesus  take  charge 
of  everything.  Leave  all  with  Jesus.  Do  not 
think  that  by  a  surrender  to-day  or  on  any  day, 
however  powerful,  however  mighty,  things  will 
keep  right  themselves.  You  need  every  morning 
afresh,  when  God  wakes  you  up  out  of  sleep,  to 
put  3^our  heart,  ?\nd  your  life,  and  your  house,  and 
your  business,  into  the  hands  of  Jesus.  Wait  on 
Him,  if  need  be,  in  silence,  or  in  prayer,  until  He 
gives  you  the  assurance,  "My  child,  for  to-day 
all  is  safe;  I  take  charge."  And  morning  by 
morning  He  will  renew  to  you  the  blessing,  and 
morning  by  morning  you  will  go  out  from  your 
quiet  time  in  the  consciousness,  "To-day  I  have 
had  fellowship  with  my  King,  and  it  is  all  right." 
Jesus  has  taken  charge.  And  so,  day  by  day,  you 
can  have  grace  to  leave  all  in  the  hands  of  Jesus. 

In  conclusion  let  me  speak  to  two  classes.  There 
are  times  when  your  heart  is  restless;  there  are 
times  when  you  are  afraid  to  die. 

There  are  some  true  believers  who  have  perhaps 
never  yet  understood  that  it  was  their  duty  to  give 
up  everything  to  Christ.  Beloved  fellow  Chris- 
tians, I  come  with  a  message  from  your  Father,  to 
come  and  to-day  take  that  word  into  your  hearts 
and  upon  your  lips,  even  though  you  do  not  un- 
derstand  it.     "Jesus,    I    make    Thee    Master   of 


THE  COMPLETE  SURRKXDER  113 

everything  and  I  will  wait  at  Thy  feet,  that  Thou 
wilt  show  me  what  Thou  wouldst  have  me  be  and 
do."  Do  it  now.  And  let  me  say  to  believers 
n'ho  have  done  it  before,  and  who  long  with  an 
unutterable  longing  to  do  it  fully  and  perfectly,  — 
Child  of  God,  you  can  do  it,  for  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  been  sent  down  from  Heaven  for  this  one  pur- 
pose, to  glorify  Jesus;  to  glorify  Jesus  in  your 
heart,  by  letting  you  see  how  perfectly  Jesus  can 
take  possession  of  the  whole  heart;  to  glorify 
Jesus  by  bringing  Him  into  your  very  life,  that 
your  whole  life  may  shine  out  with  the  glory  of 
Jesus.  Depend  upon  it,  the  Father  will  give  it  to 
you  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  if  you  are  ready.  Oh. 
come,  and  let  your  intercourse  with  God  be 
summed  up  in  a  simple  prayer  and  answer  — 
"My  God,  as  much  as  Thou  wilt  have  of  me  to 
fill  with  Christ,  Thou  shalt  have  to~day."  "My 
child,  as  much  of  Christ  as  thy  heart  longeth  to 
have,  thou  shalt  have;  for  it  is  My  delight  that 
My  Son  be  in  the  hearts  of  My  children." 


T 


DEAD  WITH  CHRIST. 
IX. 

Gal.  2:  20. — lain  crucified  xvith  Christ. 

HE  Revised  Version  properly  has  the  above 
text  "I  have  been  crucified  with  Christ."  In  this 
connection,  let  us  read  the  story  of  a  man  who  was 
literally  crucified  with  Christ.  We  may  use  all 
the  narrative  of  Christ's  work  upon  earth  in  the 
fiesh  as  a  type  of  His  spiritual  work.  Let  us  take 
in  this  instance  the  story  of  the  penitent  thief, 
Luke  23:  39-43,  for  I  think  we  may  learn  from 
him  how  to  live  as  men  who  are  crucified  with 
Christ.  Paul  says:  "I  have  been  crucified  with 
Christ."  And  again:  "God  forbid  that  I  should 
glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
through  whom  I  have  been  crucified  to  the  world, 
and  the  world  to  me."  We  often  ask  earnestly: 
How  can  I  be  free  from  the  self  life?  The  answer 
is,  "Get  another  life."  We  often  speak  about  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  coming  upon  us,  but  I 
doubt  if  we  fully  realize  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a 
heavenly  life  come  to  expel  the  selfish,  andf]eshh% 
and  the  earthly  life.  If  we  want,  in  very  deed, 
to  enjoy  fully  the  rest  that  there  is  in  Jesus,  we 
114 


DEAD  WITH  CHRIST  115 

can  only  have  it  as  He  comes  in,  in  the  power  of 
His  death,  to  slay  what  is  in  us  of  nature,  and  to 
take  possession,  and  to  live  His  own  life  in  the  full- 
ness of  the  Holy  Ghost.  God's  Word  takes  us  to 
the  cross  of  Christ, and  it  teaches  us  about  that  cross, 
two  things.  It  tells  us  that  Christ  died  for  sin. 
We  understand  what  that  means,  that  in  His  atone- 
ment He  died  as  I  never  die,  as  I  never  can  die,  as 
I  never  need  die;  He  died  for  sin  and  for  me.  But 
what  gave  His  death  such  power  to  atone?  It  was 
this:  the  spirit  in  which  He  died,  not  the  physical 
suffering,  not  the  external  act  of  death,  but  the 
spirit  in  which  He  died.  And  what  was  that  spirit? 
He  died  unto  sin.  Sin  had  tempted  Him,  and  sur- 
rounded Him,  and  had  brought  Him  very  nigh  to 
saying,  "I  cannot  die."  In  Gethsemane  Hecried: 
"Father,  is  it  not  possible  that  the  cup  pass  from 
me?"  But  God  be  praised.  He  gave  up  His  life 
rather  than  yield  to  sin.  He  died  to  sin,  and  in 
d3nng  He  conquered.  And  now,  I  can  not  die 
for  sin  like  Christ,  but  I  can  and  I  must  die  to  sin 
like  Christ.  Christ  died  for  me.  In  that  He 
stands  alone.  Christ  died  to  sin,  and  in  that  I 
have  fellowship  with  Him.  I  have  been  crucified, 
I  am  dead. 

And  here  is  the  great  subject  to  which  I  want 
to  lead  you.  — What  it  is  to  be  dead  with  Christ, 
and  how  it  is  that  I  can  practically  enter  into  this 
death  with  Christ.     We  know  that  the  great  char- 


116  DEAD  WITH  CHRIST 

acteristic  of  Christ  is  His  death.  From  eternity 
He  came  with  the  commandment  of  the  Father 
that  He  should  lay  down  His  life  on  earth.  He 
gave  Himself  up  to  it,  and  He  set  His  face  towards 
Jerusalem.  He  chose  death,  and  He  lived  and 
walked  upon  earth  to  prepare  Himself  to  die.  His 
death  is  the  power  of  redemption;  death  gave  Him 
His  victory  over  sin;  death  gave  Him  His  resur- 
rection. His  new  life.  His  exaltation,  and  His  ever- 
lasting glor}^  The  great  mark  of  Christ  is  His 
death.  Even  in  Heaven,  upon  the  throne.  He 
stands  as  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  and  through 
eternity  they  ever  sing,  "Thou  art  worthy,  for 
Thou  wast  slain."  Beloved  brother,  your  Boaz, 
your  Christ,  your  all-sufficient  Saviour,  is  a  Man 
of  whom  the  chief  mark  and  the  greatest  glory  is 
this:  He  died.  And  if  the  Bride  is  to  live  with 
her  husband  as  His  wife,  then  she  must  enter  into 
His  state,  and  into  His  spirit,  and  into  His  dispo- 
sition, and  ever  be  as  He  is.  If  we  are  to  expe- 
rience the  full  power  of  what  Christ  can  do  for 
us,  we  must  learn  to  die  with  Christ.  I  ought 
not,  perhaps,  to  use  that  expression,  "We  must 
learn  to  die  with  Christ;"  I  ought,  rather,  to  say, 
"We  must  learn  that  we  are  dead  with  Christ." 
That  is  a  glorious  thought  in  the  6th  chapter  of 
Komans;  to  every  believer  in  the  Church  of  Rome 
—not  to  the  select  ones,  or  the  advanced  ones, but  to 
every  believer  in  the    Church    of  Rome,  however 


DEAD  WITH  CHRIST  117 

feeble,  Paul  writes,  "You  are  dead  with  Christ." 
On  the  stiength  of  that  he  says,  "Reckon  your- 
selves dead  unto  sin."  What  does  that  mean  — 
You  are  dead  to  sin?  We  can  not  see  it  more 
clealy  than  by  referring  to  Adam.  Christ  was  the 
second  Adam.  What  happened  in  the  first  Adam? 
I  died,  in  the  first  Adam ;  I  died  to  God ;  I  died 
in  sin.  When  I  was  born,  I  had  in  me  the  life  of 
Adam,  which  had  all  the  characteristics  of  the  life 
of  Adam  after  he  had  fallen.  Adam  died  to  God, 
and  Adam  died  in  sin,  and  I  inherit  the  life  of 
Adam,  and  so  I  am  dead  in  sin  as  he  was,  and 
dead  unto  God.  But  at  the  very  moment  I  begin 
to  believe  in  Jesus,  I  become  united  to  Christ,  the 
second  Adam,  and  as  really  as  I  am  united  by  my 
birth  to  the  first  Adam,  I  am  made  partaker  of  the 
life  of  Christ.  What  life?  That  life  which  died 
unto  sin  on  Calvarj',  and  which  rose  again;  there- 
fore God  by  his  apostle  tells  us:  "Reckon  your- 
selves indeed  dead  unto  sin  and  alive  unto  God  in 
Christ  Jesus."  You  are  to  reckon  it  as  true,  be™ 
cause  God  says  it  —  for  3^our  new  nature  is  indeed, 
in  virtue  of  your  vital  union  to  Christ,  actually 
and  utterl}'  dead  to  sin. 

If  we  want  to  have  the  real  Christ  that  God  has 
given  us,  the  real  Christ  that  died  for  us,  in  the 
power  of  His  death  and  resurrection,  we  must  take 
our  stand  here.  But  many  Christians  do  not  un- 
derstand what  the  6th  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the 


118  DEAD  WITH  CHRIST 

Romans  teaches  us.  The}^  do  not  know  that  they 
are  dead  to  sin.  They  do  not  know  it,  and  there- 
fore Paul  instructs  them:  "Know  ye  not  that  as 
many  of  you  as  are  baptized  into  Christ  Jesus,  are 
baptized  into  His  death."  How  can  we  who  are 
dead  to  sin  in  Christ  live  any  longer  therein  ?  We 
have  indeed  the  death  and  the  life  of  Christ  work- 
ing within  us.  But,  alas!  most  Christians  do  not 
know  this,  and  therefore  do  not  experience  or 
practice  it.  They  need  to  be  taught  that  their 
first  need  is  to  be  brought  to  the  recognition,  to 
the  knowledge,  of  what  has  taken  place  in  Christ 
on  Calvary,  and  what  has  taken  place  in  their 
becoming  united  to  Christ.  The  man  must  begin 
to  say,  even  before  he  understands  it,  "In  Christ  I 
am  dead  to  sin."  It  is  a  command:  "Reckon  ye 
yourselves  indeed  to  be  dead  unto  sin."  Get  hold 
of  your  union  to  Christ;  believe  in  the  new  nature 
within  3'ou,  that  spiritual  life  which  you  have  from 
Christ,  a  life  that  has  died  and  been  raised  again. 
A  man's  acts  are  always  in  accordance  wnth  his 
idea  of  his  state.  A  king  acts  like  a  king,  other- 
wise we  say,  "That  man  has  forgotten  his  king- 
ship," but  if  a  man  is  conscious  of  being  a  king, 
he  behaves  like  a  king.  And  so  I  cannot  live  the 
life  of  a  true  believer  unless  I  am  filled  with  a  con- 
sciousness of  this  everj^  day:  "I  thank  God  that  I 
am  dead  in  Christ.  Christ  died  unto  sin,  and  I 
am  united  with  Christ,  and  Christ  lives  in  me  and 


DEAD  n  nil  C/IRIST  119 

I  am  dead  to  sin."  What  is  the  life  Christ  lives 
in  me  ?  Ask  what  is  the  life  Adam  lives  in  me? 
Adam  lives  in  me  the  death  life,  a  life  that  has 
fallen  under  the  power  of  sin  and  death,  death  to 
God.  That  life  Adam  lives  in  me  by  nature  as 
an  unconverted  man.  And  Christ,  the  second 
Adam,  has  come  to  me  with  a  new  life,  and  I 
now  live  in  His  life,  the  death-life  of  Christ.  As 
long  as  I  do  not  know  it,  I  can  not  act  according 
to  it,  though  it  be  in  me.  Praise  God,  when  a 
man  begins  to  see  what  it  is,  and  begins  in  obedi- 
ence to  sa}^  "I  will  do  what  God's  Word  says; 
I  am  dead,  I  reckon  myself  dead,"  he  enters  upon 
a  new  life.  On  the  strength  of  God's  everlasting 
Word,  and  your  union  to  Christ,  and  the  great  fact 
of  Calvary,  reckon,  know  yourself  as  dead  indeed 
unto  sin.  A  man  must  see  this  truth ;  this  is 
the  first  step.  The  second  is —  he  must  accept  it 
in  faith.  And  what  then?  When  he  accepts  it 
in  faith,  then  there  comes  in  him  a  struggle,  and 
a  painful  experience,  for  that  faith  is  still  very 
feeble,  and  he  begins  to  ask,  "But  why,  if  I  am 
dead  to  sin,  do  I  commit  so  much  sin?"  And  the 
answer  God's  Word  gives  is  simply  this:  You  do 
not  allow  the  power  of  that  death  to  be  applied  by 
the  Holy  Spirit.  What  we  need  is  to  understand 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  came  from  Heaven,  from  the 
glorified  Jesus,  to  bring  His  death  and  His  life  into 
us.     The  two  are  inseparably    connected.     That 


120  DEAD  WITH  CHRIST 

Christ  died,  He  died  unto  sin,  and  that  He  liveth, 
He  liveth  unto  God.  The  death  and  the  life  in 
Him  are  inseparable;  and  even  so  in  us  the  life  to 
God  in  Christ  is  inseparabl}^  connected  with  the 
death  to  sin.  And  that  is  what  the  Holy  Ghost 
will  teach  us  and  work  in  us.  If  I  have  accepted 
Christ  in  faith  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  3neld  my- 
self to  Him,  Christ  every  day  keeps  possession, 
and  reveals  the  full  power  of  my  fellowship  in 
His  death  and  life  in  my  heart.  To  some  this 
comes  undoubtedl}'  in  one  moment  of  supreme 
power  and  blessing;  all  at  once  they  see  and  ac- 
cept it,  and  enter  in,  and  there  is  death  to  sin  as  a 
Divine  experience.  It  is  not  that  the  tendency  to 
evil  is  rooted  out.  No;  but  the  power  of  Christ's 
death  keeps  from  sin,  and  destroys  the  power  of 
sin;  the  power  of  Christ's  death  can  be  manifested 
in  the  Holy  Spirit's  unceasingly  mortifying  the 
deeds  of  the  body. 

Some  one  asks  me  if  there  is  still  growth  needed. 
Undoubtedly.  By  the  Holy  Spirit  a  man  can 
now  begin  to  live  and  grow,  deeper  and  deeper, 
into  the  fellowship  of  Christ's  death.  New  things 
are  discovered  by  him  in  spheres  of  which  he 
never  thought.  A  man  may  at  times  be  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  yet  there  may  be  great 
imperfections  in  him.  Why?  For  this  reason: 
because  his  heart,  perhaps,  had  not  been  fully 
prepared  by  a  complete  discovery  of   sin.     There 


DEAD  WITH  CHRIST  121 

may  be  pride,  or  self-consciousness,  or  forward- 
ness, or  other  qualities  of  this  nature  which  he  has 
never  noticed.  The  Holy  Spirit  does  not  always 
cast  these  out  at  once.  No.  There  are  different 
ways  of  entering  into  the  blessed  life.  One  man 
enters  into  the  blessed  life  with  the  idea  of  power 
for  service;  another  with  the  idea  of  rest  from 
worry  and  weariness;  another  with  the  idea  of  de- 
liverance from  sin.  In  all  these  aspects  there  is 
something  limited,  and  therefore  every  believer  is 
to  give  himself  up  after  he  knows  the  power  of 
Christ's  death,  and  say  continually:  ''Lord 
Jesus,  let  the  power  of  Thy  death  work  through, 
let  it  penetrate  my  whole  being."  As  the  man 
gives  himself  unreservedly  up,  he  will  begin  to  bear 
the  marks  of  a  crucified  man.  The  apostle  says: 
"I  have  been  crucified,"  and  he  lives  like  a  cruci- 
fied man. 

What  are  the  marks  of  a  crucified  man?  The 
first  is,  deep,  absolute  humility.  Christ  humbled 
Himself,  and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even 
the  death  of  the  cross.  When  the  death  to  sin  be- 
gins to  work  mightily,  that  is  one  of  its  chief  and 
most  blessed  proofs.  It  breaks  a  man  down, 
down,  and  the  great  longing  of  his  heart  is,  "Oh, 
that  I  could  get  deeper  down  before  my  God,  and 
be  nothing  at  all,  that  the  life  of  Christ  might  be 
exalted,  I  deserve  nothing  but  the  cursed  cross; 
I  give  myself  over  to  it."     Humility  is  one  of  the 


122  DEAD  WITH  CHRIST 

Another  mark  is  impotence,  helplessness.  When 
a  man  hangs  on  the  cross,  he  is  utterly  helpless, 
he  can  do  nothing.  As  long  as  we  Christians  are 
strong,  and  can  work,  or  struggle,  we  do  not  get 
into  the  blessed  life  of  Christ;  but  when  a  man 
says,  "I  am  a  crucified  man,  I  am  utterly  help- 
less, ever}^  breath  of  life  and  strength  must  come 
from  my  Jesus,"  then  we  learn  what  it  is  to  sink 
into  our  own  impotence,  and  say,   *' I  am  nothing." 

Still  another  mark  of  crucifixion  is  restfulness. 
Yes.  Christ  was  crucified,  and  went  down  into 
the  grave,  and  we  are  crucified  and  buried  with 
Him.  There  is  no  place  of  rest  like  the  grave;  a 
man  can  do  nothing  there,  '^My  flesh  shall  rest 
in  hope,"  said  David,  and  said  the  Messiah.  Yes, 
and  when  a  man  goes  down  into  the  grave  of 
Jesus,  it  means  this:  that  he  just  cries  out,  ''I  have 
nothing  but  God,  I  trust  God;  I  am  waiting  upon 
God;  my  flesh  rests  in  Him;  I  have  given  up 
everj^hing,  that  I  may  rest,  waiting  upon  what 
God  is  to  do  to  me."  Remember,  the  crucifixion, 
and  the  death,  and  the  burial  are  inseparably  one. 
And  remember  the  grave  is  the  place  where  the 
mighty  resurrection  power  of  God  will  be  mani- 
fested. And  remember  those  precious  words  in 
the  nth  of  John:  "Said  I  not  unto  thee"  —  when 
did  Christ  say  that?  It  was  at  the  grave  of  Laza- 
rus—  ''that  if  thou  believest,  thou  shalt  see  the 
glory  of  God?"     Where  shall  I   see   the    glory  oi 


DEAD  WITH  CHRIST  123 

God  most  brightly  ?  Beside  the  grave.  Go  down 
into  death  believing,  and  the  glory  of  God  will 
come  upon  thee,  and  till  thy  heart. 

Dear  friends,  we  want  to  die.  If  we  are  to 
live  in  the  rest,  and  the  peace,  and  the  blessedness 
of  our  great  Boaz;  if  we  are  to  live  a  life  of  joy 
and  of  fruitfulness,  of  strength  and  of  victory,  we 
must  go  down  into  the  grave  with  Christ,  and  the 
language  of  our  life  must  be:  "I  am  a  crucified 
man.  God  be  praised,  though  I  have  nothing  but 
sin  in  myself,  I  have  an  everlasting  Jesus,  with 
His  death  and  His  life,  to  be  the  life  of  my  soiiL" 

How  can  I  enter  into  this  fellowship  of  the 
cross?  We  find  an  illustration  in  the  story  of  the 
penitent  thief.  Thomas  said,  before  Christ's  death, 
*'Let  us  go  and  abide  with  Him."  And  Peter 
said,  "Lord,  I  am  readj^  to  go  with  Ihee  to 
prison,  or  to  death,"  But  the  disciples  all  failed, 
and  our  Lord  took  a  man  who  was  the  offscour- 
ing  of  the  earth,  and  he  hung  hi^n  upon  the  cross 
of  Calvary  beside  Himself,  and  He  said  to  Peter, 
and  to  all:  ''\  will  let  you  sse  what  it  is  to  die 
with  Me."  And  He  says  that  word  to-day,  to  the 
weakest  and  the  humblest;  if  you  are  longing  to 
know  what  it  is  to  enter  into  death  with  Jesus, 
come  and  look  at  the  penitent  thief.  And  what 
do  we  see  there?  First  of  all,  we  see  there  the 
state  of  a  heart  prepared  to  die  with  Christ.  We 
see  in  that  penitent  thief,  a  humble,  whole-hearted 


124  DEAD  WITH  CHRIST 

confession  of  sin.  There  he  hung  upon  the  cursed 
tree,  and  the  multitudes  were  blaspheming  that 
man  beside  him,  but  he  was  not  ashamed  publicly 
to  make  confession:  "I  am  dying  a  death  that  I 
have  deserved;  I  am  suffering  justly;  this  cross  is 
what  I  have  deserved."  Here  is  one  of  the  reasons 
why  the  Church  of  Christ  enters  so  little  into  the 
death  of  Christ;  men  do  not  want  to  believe  that 
the  curse  of  God  is  upon  everything  in  them  that 
has  not  died  with  Christ.  People  talk  about  the 
curse  of  sin,  but  they  do  not  understand  that  the 
whole  nature  has  been  infected  by  sin,  and  that 
the  curse  is  on  everything.  My  intellect,  has  that 
been  defiled  by  sin?  Terribly,  and  the  curse  of 
sin  is  on  it^  and  therefore  my  intellect  must  go 
down  into  the  death.  Ah,  I  believe  that  the 
Church  of  Christ  suffers  more  to-day  from  trusting 
in  intellect,  in  sagacity,  in  culture,  and  in  mental 
refinement,  than  from  almost  anything  else.  The 
Spirit  of  the  world  comes  in,  and  men  seek  by 
their  wisdom,  and  by  their  knowledge,  to  help  the 
Gospel,  and  they  rob  it  of  its  crucifixion  mark. 
Christ  directed  Paul  to  go  and  preach  the  Gospel 
of  the  cross,  but  to  do  it  not  wath  wisdom  of 
words.  The  curse  of  sin  is  on  all  that  is  of  nature. 
If  there  be  a  minister  who  has  delighted  in 
preaching,  who  has  done  his  verj/  best,  who  has 
given  his  very  best  in  the  way  of  talent  and  of 
thought,  and  who  asks,  "Must  that  go  down  into 


DEAD  WITH  ClfRlST  \Sy 

the  grave?*'  I  say,  '"Yes,  my  brother,  the  whole 
maj  must  be  crucified."  And  so  with  the  heart's 
affection.  What  is  more  beautiful  than  the  love  of 
a  child  to  his  mother?  In  that  lovely  nature  there 
is  something  unsanctified,  and  it  must  be  given  up 
to  die.  God  will  raise  it  from  the  dead  and  give 
it  back  again,  sanctified  and  made  alive  unto  God. 
So  I  might  go  through  the  whole  of  our  life.  Peo- 
ple often  say  to  me;  "But  has  God  made  all 
things  so  beautiful,  and  is  it  not  right  that  we 
should  enjoy  them?  Are  not  His  gifts  all  good?" 
I  answer,  yes,  but  remember  what  it  says;  they 
are  good,  if  sanctified  by  the  Word  of  God  and 
prayer.  The  curse  of  sin  is  on  them;  the  blight 
of  sin  is  on  everything  most  beautiful,  and  it  takes 
much  of  God's  Word,  and  much  of  prayer  to  sanc- 
tify them.  It  is  very  hard  to  give  up  a  thing  to 
the  death,  and  it  is  hardest  of  all  to  give  up  my 
life  to  the  death  ,and  I  never  will  until  I  have  learned 
that  everything  about  that  life  is  stamped  by  sin, 
and  let  it  go  down  into  the  death  as  the  only  way 
to  have  it  quickened  and  sanctified. 

The  penitent  thief  confessed  his  sin,  and  that  he 
deserved  death.  Then,  next,  he  had  faith  in  the 
almighty  power  of  Christ.  A  wonderful  faith.  It 
has  no  parallel  in  the  Bible.  There  hangs  the 
cursed  malefactor  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  he 
dares  speak,  and  sa}':  "I  am  dying  here,  under 
the  ju3t    curse    of   my    sins,  but   I  believe    Thou 


126  DEAD  V/ITH  C FIR  1ST 

canst  lake  me  into  Thy  heart,  and  remember  me 
when  Thou  comest  into  Thy  Kingdom."  Oh, 
that  we  might  learn  to  believe  in  the  almighty 
power  of  Christ!  That  man  believed  that  Christ 
was  a  King,  and  had  a  Kingdom,  and  that  Pie 
v^ould  take  him  up  in  His  arms,  and  in  His  heart, 
and  remember  him  when  He  came  into  His  King- 
dom. He  believed  that,  and  believing  that,  he 
died.  Brother,  j^ou  and  I  need  to  take  time 
to  come  to  a  much  larger  and  deeper  faith  in  the 
power  of  Christ,  that  the  almighty  Christ  will  in- 
deed take  us  in  His  arms  and  carry  us  through 
this  death  life,  revealing  the  power  of  His  death 
in  us.  I  cannot  live  it  without  personal  contact 
with  Christ  every  hour  of  the  day.  Christ  must 
do  it;  Christ  can  do  it.  Come  therefore  and  say: 
''Is  He  not  the  Almighty  One;  did  He  not  come 
from  the  throne  of  God;  did  He  not  prove  His 
omnipotence,  and  did  the  Father  not  prove  it 
when  He  rose  from  the  dead?"  Would  you  be 
afraid,  now  that  Christ  is  on  the  throne,  of  doing 
what  the  malefactor  did  when  Christ  was  upon  the 
cross,  and  entrusting  yourself  to  Him  to  live  as 
one  dead  with  Him?  Christ  will  carry  you  through 
the  very  process  He  w-ent  through;  will  make  His 
death  work  in  you  every  day  of  your  life. 

I  note  one  thing  more  in  the  penitent  thief  — 
his  prayer.  There  was  his  conviction  of  sin,  and 
his  faith,  but  there  was5further,the  utterance  of  his 


DEAD  WITH  CHRIST  127 

faith  in  prayer.  He  turned  to  Jesus.  Remember 
tliat  the  whole  world,  with  perhaps  the  exception 
of  Mary  and  the  women,  was  turned  against 
Christ  that  day.  Of  the  whole  world  of  men  as  far 
as  I  know,  there  was  but  that  one  praying  to 
Christ.  Do  not  wait  to  see  what  others  do;  if  you 
wait  for  that, — alas!  I  desire  to  say  it  in  love 
and  tenderness, — you  will  not  find  much  com- 
pany in  the  Church  of  Christ.  Pray  incessantly: 
"Lord  Christ,  let  the  power  of  Thy  death  come 
into  me."  For  God's  sake,  pray  the  prayer.  If 
you  want  to  live  the  life  of  Heaven,  there  must  be 
death  to  sin  in  the  power  of  Jesus.  There  must 
be  personal  entrustment  of  the  soul  into  His  death 
to  sin,  personal  acceptance  of  Jesus  to  do  the 
mighty   work. 

We  have  seen  what  the  preparation  is  on  the 
part  of  this  man;  let  us  look,  secondly,  at  how 
Christ  met  him.  He  met  him,  you  know,  with 
that  wonderful  promise,  with  its  three  wonderful 
parts:  "To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise. '^ 
A  promise  of  fellowship  with  Chiist,  — "Thou  shalt 
be  with  me;"  a  promise  of  rest  in  eternity,  in  the 
Paradise  from  which  sin  had  cast  man  out, —  "With 
me  in  Paradise;"  a  promise  of  immediate  blessing, 
—  "To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  Me."  With  that 
three-fold  blessing  Jesus  comes  to  you  and  me,  and 
He  says:  "Believer,  are  you  longing  to  live  the 
Paradise  life,  where  I  give  souls  to  eat  of  the  Tree 


128  DEAD  WITH  CHRIST 

of  Life,  in  the  Paradise  of  God,  day  by  day?  Are 
you  longing  for  that  uninterrupted  communion  with 
God  that  there  was  in  Paradise  before  Adam  fell? 
Are  you  longing  for  perfect  fellowship  with  me, 
longing  to  live  where  I  am  living,  in  the  love  of 
the  Father?  To-day,  to-day;  even  as  the  Holy 
Ghost  says:  *To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me!' 
Longest  thou  for  Me?  I  long  more  for  thee.  Long- 
est thou  for  fellowship  ?  I  long  unceasingly  for  thy 
fellowship,  for  I  need  thy  love,  my  child,  to  satisfy 
my  heart.  Nothing  can  prevent  My  receiving 
thee  into  fellowship.  I  have  taken  possession  of 
Heaven  for  thee,  as  the  Great  High  Priest,  that 
thou  mightest  live  the  Heavenly  life,  that  thou 
mightest  have  access  into  the  holiest  of  all  and  an 
abiding  dwelling  place  there.  To-day,  if  thou  wilt, 
thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  Paradise."  Thank  God, 
the  Jesus  of  the  penitent  thief  is  my  Jesus.  Thank 
God,  the  cross  of  the  penitent  thief  is  my  cross.  I 
must  confess  my  sinfulness  if  I  want  to  come  into  the 
closest  communion  with  my  blessed  Lord.  There 
was  not  a  man  upon  earth  during  the  thirty-three 
years  of  Christ's  life  that  had  such  wonderful 
fellowship  with  the  Son  of  God,as  the  penitent  thief, 
for  with  the  Son  of  God  he  entered  the  glory. 
What  made  him  so  separate  from  others?  He  was 
on  the  cross  with  Jesus  and  entered  Paradise  with 
Him.  And  if  I  live  upon  the  cross  with  Jesus, 
the  Paradise  life  shall  be  mine  every  day. 


DEAD  WITH  CHRIST  129 

And  now,  if  Jesus  gives  me  that  promise,  what 
have  I  to  do?     Let  go.      When  a  ship  is   moored 
alongsida  the  dock,  with  everything  ready  for  the 
start  and   all   standing  on   the  quay,  the  last   bell 
is  rung  and  the  order  is  given,  "Let  go."     Then 
the  last  rope  is  loosened,  and  the   steamer  moves. 
There  are  things  that  tie  us  to  the  earth,  to  the  llesh- 
life,  and  to  the  self-life ;  but  to-day  the  message 
comes:     "If  thou  wouldst  die  with  Jesus,  let  go." 
Thou  needst  not  understand  all.    It  may  not  be  per- 
fectly clear;  the  heart  may  appear  dull,  but  never 
mind;  Jesus  carried   that  penitent   thief    through 
death  to  life.     The  thief  did  not  know    where  he 
was  going,  he  did  not  know  what  was  to  happen, 
but  Jesus,  the  mighty  conqueror,  took  him   in  His 
arms,and  landed  him,  in  his  ignorance,  in  Paradise. 
Oh,  I  have  sometimes  said   in  my  soul,  bless  God 
for  the  ignorance  of  that  penitent  thief.     He  knew 
nothing  about  what  was   going  to  happen,  but  he 
trusted  Christ;  and  if  I  can  not  understand  all  about 
this  crucifixion  with  Christ,  and  the   death   to  sin, 
and  the  life  to  God,  and  the  glory  that  comes  into 
the  heart,  never  mind,  I  trust  my  Lord's  promise,  I 
cast  myself  helpless  into  His  arms,  I  maintain   my 
position   on   the   cross.     Given  up  to  Jesus,  to  die 
with  Him,  I  can  trust  Him  to  carry  me  through. 

Shall  we  not  each  one  take  the  blessed  oppor- 
tunity of  doing  what  Ruth  did  when  she,  in  obe- 
dience   to    the    advice  of    her    mother,  just  cast 


130  DEAD  WITH  CHRIST 

herself  at  the  feet  of  the  great  Boaz,  the  Redeemer, 
to  be  His?  Shall  we  not  come  into  personal  con- 
tact with  Jesus,  and  shall  not  each  one  of  us  just 
speak  before  the  world  these  simple  words: 
"Lord,  here  is  this  life;  there  is  much  in  it  still  of 
self,  and  sinfulness,  and  self-will,  but  I  come  to 
Thee;  I  long  to  enter  fully  into  Thy  death;  I  long 
to  know  fully  that  T  have  been  crucified  with 
Thee;  I  long  to  live  Thy  life  every  day."  Then 
say:  "Lord  Jesus,  I  have  seen  Thy  glory,  what 
Thou  didst  for  the  penitent  one  at  Thy  side  on  the 
cross;  lam  trusting  Thee,  that  Thou  wilt  doit 
for  me.     Lord,  I  cast  myself  into  Thy  arms." 


JOY  IN  THE  HOLY  GHOST. 
X. 

Romans  14:  17. — For  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and 
drink,  but  righteousness,  ana  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost, 

IN  this  text  we  have  the  earthly  revelation  of  the 
work  of  the  Trinity.  The  Kingdom  of  God  is 
righteousness;  that  represents  the  work  of  the 
Father.  The  foundations  of  His  throne  are  justice 
and  judgment.  Then  comes  the  work  of  the  Son: 
He  is  our  peace,  our  Shiloh,  our  rest.  The  King- 
dom of  God  is  peace;  notonlj^the  peace  of  pardon 
for  the  past,  but  the  peace  of  perfect  assurance  as 
to  the  future.  Not  only  the  work  of  atonement  is 
finished,  but  the  work  of  sanctification  is  finished 
in  Christ,  and  I  may  receive  and  enjoy  what  is  pre- 
pared for  me.  The  new  man  has  been  created,  and 
I  may  in  Him  live  out  my  life ;  if  a  kingdom  is  es- 
tablished in  righteousness, if  the  rule  is  perfect, there 
can  be  perfect  rest.  If  there  be  peace,  no  war  from 
without,  and  no  civil  dissension  within,  a  nation  can 
be  happy  and  prosperous.  And  so  there  comes 
here,  after  righteousness  and  peace,  the  joy,  the 
blessed  happiness  in  which  a  man  can  live:  "The 

131 


132  JO  Y  IN  THE  HOL  Y  GHOST 

Kingdom  of  God  is  righteousness  and  peace,  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  May  we  regard  this  joy 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  not  only  as  a  beautiful  thing  to 
admire,  not  only  as  a  thing  to  have  beautiful 
thoughts  about,  but  as  a  blessing  that  we  are  go- 
ing to  claim. 

We  often  see  a  fruiterer's  or  confectioner's  shop, 
with  beautiful  fruit  or  cake   temptingly    displayed 
in  the  window.     There  is  a   great    pane  of  plate 
glass  before  it,  and   the   hungry  little   boys    stand 
there  and  look,  and   long,  but   they  cannot    reach 
it.     If  you  were  to  say  to   one,  "Now,  little    boy, 
take  that  fruit,"  he  would  look  at  you  in  surprise. 
He  has  learned  that  there  is  something   between. 
If  he  had  never  known  of  glass  he  might  attempt 
it.     The   plate    glass  is  sometimes   so    clear   that 
even  a  arown  man  might  for  a  moment  be  deceived 
and  stretch  out  his  hand.      But  he  soon  finds  there 
is  something  invisible  between  him   and  the  fruit. 
This  represents  exactly  the  life  of  many  Christians; 
they  see,  but  they  cannot  take.     And  what  now  is 
this  invisible  pane  of  plate   glass,  that  hinders  my 
taking  the  beautiful  things  I  see?    It  is  nothing  but 
the  self-life;  I  see  divine  things  but   cannot  reach 
them,  the  self-life  is  the  invisible  plate  glass.     We 
are  willing,  we  are  working,  we  are  striving,  and 
yet  we  are  holding  back  something;  we  are  afraid 
to  give  up  everything  to  God.     We  do  not  know 
•  what  the  consequences  maybe.    We  have  not  yet 


JOY  IN  THE  HOLY  GHOST 


133 


comprehended  that  God  and  Christ  Jesus  are  worth 
everything.  Whatever  is  told  us  of  the  blessed  life 
of  peace  and  joy,\ve  say,"  Praise  God;  God's  Word 
is  true;  I  believe  the  Word;"  and  yet,  day  by  day, 
we  stand  back.  When  some  one  says,  "Take  it," 
we  say,  "I  can't  take  it;  there  is  something  be- 
tween." Would  we  were  willing  to  give  up  the 
self-life;  would  we  had  the  courage  to  give  up  to- 
day, and  let  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost  be  our 
religion.  That  is  the  religion  God  has  prepared 
for  us;  that  is  the  religion  we  can  claim;  not  only 
righteousness,  not  only  peace,  but  the  joy  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.     That  is  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

What  is  this  joy?  First  of  all,  it  is  the  joy  of 
the  presence  of  Jesus.  We  are  often  inclined  to 
speak  most  of  two  other  things,  the  power  for 
sanctification,  and  the  power  for  service.  ^  But  I 
find  there  is  a  thing  more  important  than  either  of 
those  two,  and  that  is  that  the  Holy  Ghost  came 
from  Heaven  to  be  the  abiding  presence  of  Christ 
in  His  disciples,  in  the  Church,  and  in  the 
heart  of  every  believer.  The  Lord  Jesus  was  go- 
ing away,  and  His  disciples  were  very  sad;  their 
hearts  was  sorrowful;  but  He  said  to  them,  "I  will 
come  back  again,  and  I  will  come  to  you.  Your 
hearts  shall  rejoice,  and  your  joy  no  man  shall  take 
from  you."  What  took  place  with  them,  may  take 
place  with  us  too.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  given  to 
make  the    presence  of  Jesus  an  abiding  reality,  a 


134  JO  V  IN  THE  HOL  V  GHOST 

continual  experience.  And  what  was  that  joy 
that  no  man  could  ever  touch?  It  was  the  joy  of 
Pentecost.  And  what  was  Pentecost?  The  com- 
ing of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  Holy  Ghost  to  dwell 
with  His  disciples.  While  Jesus  was  with  His 
disciples  on  earth,  He  could  not  get  into  their 
hearts  in  the  right  way.  They  loved  Him,  but 
they  could  not  take  in  His  teaching,  they  could 
not  partake  of  His  disposition,  and  the}-  could 
not  receive  His  very  spirit  into  their  being. 
But  when  He  had  ascended  to  Heaven,  He  came 
back  in  the  Spirit  to  dwell  in  their  hearts.  It  is 
this  alone  that  will  help  us  to  go,  the  minister  to 
his  congregation  with  its  difficulties,  the  business 
man  to  his  counter,  the  mother  to  her  large  family 
with  its  care,  the  worker  to  her  Bible  class.  It  is 
this  only  that  will  help  us  to  feel,  "I  can  conquer, 
I  can  live  in  the  rest  of  God."  Why?  "Because 
I  have  the  almighty  Jesus  with  me  every  day." 
With  God's  people,  there  seems  to  be  one  hin- 
drance, they  do  not  know  their  Saviour,  They 
do  not  realize  that  this  blessed  Christ  is  an  ever 
present,  all-pervading,  in-dwelling  Christ,  who 
wants  to  take  charge  of  their  entire  lives.  They 
do  not  know,  they  do  not  believe  that  He  is  an 
Almighty  Christ,  and  ready  in  the  midst  of  any 
difficulties  and  any  circumstances  to  be  their 
keeper  and  their  God.  This  is  absolutely  true. 
Many  Christians    are    asked   as  to  how  one  may 


JO  V  IN  TIIK  HOL  y  GHOST  136 

have  the  jo}^  unspeakable,  the  joy  that  nothing 
can  take  away,  the  joy  of  the  friendship  and 
nearness  and  love  of  Jcsns  filling  his  heart.  We 
complain  that  the  rush  of  competition  is  so  terrible 
that  we  can  not  get  time  for  private  prayer. 
Brother,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  if  He  comes  to 
you  as  a  brother  and  a  friend  and  an  abiding 
guest,  can  give  your  heart  the  joy  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  so  that  business  will  take  its  right  place 
under  your  feet.  Your  heart  is  too  holy  to  have 
i^  filled  with  business;  let  the  business  be  in  the 
head  and  under  the  feet,  but  let  Christ  have  the 
whole  heart,  and  He  will  keep  the  whole  life. 
Our  glorious, exalted,  almighty,ever  present  Christ! 
why  is  it  that  you  and  I  can  not  trust  Him  fully, 
perfectl}^  to  do  His  work?  Shall  we  not  say  be- 
fore God  that  we  do  trust  Him,  that  we  will  trust 
Christ  to  be  to  us  every  moment  all  that  we  can 
desire?  On  the  Cross  of  Calvary  Christ  was 
all  alone,  and  you  believe  He  did  a  perfect  and 
a  blessed  work;  and  Christ  in  Heaven  is  all  alone, 
as  high  priest  and  intercessor,  and  you  trust  Him 
for  His  work  there.  But,  praise  God !  it  is  equally 
true,  Christ  in  the  heart  is  able  all  alone  to  keep 
it  all  the  days.  May  it  please  God  to  reveal  to 
His  children  the  nearness  of  Christ  standing  and 
knocking  at  the  door  of  every  heart,  ready  to  come 
in  and  rest  forever  there  and  to  lead  the  soul  into 
His  rest. 


136  JO  y  IN  THE  HOL  V  GHOST 

We  all  know  what  the  power  of  joy  is;  we 
know  there  is  nothing  so  attractive  as  joy,  there 
is  nothing  can  help  a  man  to  bear  and  endure  so 
much  as  joy;  we  know  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Him- 
self for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  Him  endured 
the  cross.  One  is  not  living  aright  if  he  is  living 
a  sighing,  trembling,  doubting  life.  Come  to-day 
and  believe  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  meant 
for  you.  Does  not  the  Scripture  say,  "Whom  not 
having  seen  we  love;  in  whom,  though  now^^e  see 
Him  not,  yet  believing  ye  rejoice  with  joy  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory."  Do  you  not  believe 
that  this  blessed,  adorable,  inconceivably  beautiful 
Son  of  God,  the  delight  of  the  Father,  —  do  3^3u 
not  believe  that  this  Son  of  God  could  fill  your 
heart  with  delight  day  and  night,  if  He  were  al- 
ways present?  And  do  you  not  believe  that  He 
loves  you  more  than  a  bridegroom  loves  his  bride? 
Do  you  not  believe  that,  having  bought  you  with 
His  blood,  Jesus  is  longing  for  you?  He  needs 
3^ou  to  satisfy  His  heart  of  love.  Begin  to  believe 
with  your  whole  heart,  "The  joy  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  my  portion,"  for  the  Holy  Ghost  secures 
to  me  without  interruption  the  presence  and  the 
love  of  Jesus. 

But  secondly,  there  is  the  joy  of  deliverance 
from  sin.  The  Holy  Ghost  comes  to  sanctify  us. 
Christ  is  our  sanctification,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
comes  to  communicate  Him  to  us,  to  work  out  all 


JO  Y  IN  THE  HOL  V  GHOST  137 

that  is  in  Christ  and  to  reproduce  it  in  us.  Let  us 
remember  that  in  the  sight  of  God  there  is  some- 
thing  more    than  work.     There   is  Christh'keness 

—  the  likeness  and  the  life  of  Christ  in  us.  That  is 
what  God  wants;  that  will  fit  us  for  work.  God 
asks  not  that  Christ  should  live  in  us  as  separate 
persons;  temples  full  of  filthy,  impure,  foul  creat- 
ures, with  Christ  hidden  away   somewhere   there, 

—  that  is  not  the  intention  of  God,  but  He  wants 
Christ  so  formed  in  us  that  we  are  one  with 
Christ,  and  that  in  our  thinking,  feeling  and  liv- 
ing, the  image  of  His  blessed  Son  is  manifest  be- 
fore Him.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  given  to  sanctify 
us.  My  brother,  are  you  willing  to  be  sanctified 
from  every  sin,  be  that  sin  great  or  small?  I  am 
not  asking,  do  you  feel  that  you  have  the  power 
to  conquer  it?  I  am  not  even  asking,  do  you  feel 
the  power  to  cast  it  out?  It  may  be  that  you  feel 
no  power;  that  won't  hinder  if  j^ou  are  willing. 
I  can  not  cast  out  sin,  but  I  can  get  the  Almighty 
Christ  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  do  it,  and  it  is  my 
work  to  say  to  Christ,  ''There  is  the  sin,  there  is 
the  evil  thing,  I  lay  it  at  Thy  feet,  I  cast  it  there,  I 
cast  it  into  Thy  very  bosom.  Lord,  I  am  ready 
to  cut  off  the  right  hand,  anything,  only  deliver 
me  from  it."  Then  Christ  will  cast  out  the  evil 
spirit  and  give  deliverance.  The  Spirit  of  God  is 
a  holy  spirit  and  His  work  is  to  make  free  from 
the   power  of  sin  and  death.     And  if  you  want 


138  JO  V  IN  THE  HOL  V  GHOST 

to  live  in  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  question 
comes:  "Are  you  willing  to  surrender  even .^^-ing 
that  is  sinful,  even  what  appears  good,  —  Lul  has 
the  stain  of  sin  on  it?"  You  may  be  involved  in 
relationships  that  make  your  life  very  difficult. 
A  paGtnr  with  his  people  maybe  brought  into  very 
difficult  relationships;  or  a  business  man  with  his 
partner  or  those  with  whom  he  has  to  associate, 
may  be  in  an  exceedingly  trying  position.  But 
is  not  the  blessed  Lamb  of  God  worth  it  all?  What 
is  the  Christ  worth  to  you?  The  question  was 
once  asked  the  disciples,  ''What  think  ye  of 
Christ?"  I  ask,  "What  is  Christ  worth  to  you?" 
And  I  beseech  you,  whatever  prospective  difficul- 
ties there  ma}^  be,  and  whatever  perplexities  sur- 
round you,  take  the  whole  world  to-day  and  cast 
it  at  His  feet.  To  have  Him  is  worth  any  difficulty; 
to  have  Him  will  be  the  solution  of  every  diffi- 
culty. There  are  not  only  such  external,  manifest 
difficulties  and  perplexities,  there  are  a  thousand 
little  things  that  come  in  our  life  and  that  often 
disturb  us,  temptations  to  unloving  feelings,  and 
sharp  words,  and  hasty  judgments.  Oh,  come, 
and  believe  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  sanctifierjCan 
come  in  and  rule,  and  give  grace  to  pass  through  all 
without  sinning,  and  you  shall  know  what  the  joy 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  is.  Our  body,  we  read  in  ist 
Corinthians,  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It 
is  to  be  holy  in  things  like  eating  and   drinking. 


JO  V  IN  THE  110  L  V  GlIOS  T  139 

How  often  a  Christian  comes  to  the  conscious- 
nsss  that  he  takes  or  seeks  too  much  enjoyment 
in  that  eating,  eating  for  pleasure,  with  no  self- 
denial  or  self-sacritice  in  his  feeding  the  body  I 
How  often  we  tempt  one  another  to  tat,  and  how 
often  the  believer  forgets  that  this  body  is  the  ver}^ 
secret  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  that  every 
mouthful  we  eat  and  drink  must  be  for  the  glory 
of  God  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  perfectly  well  pleas- 
ing to  Him  I  Beloved,  I  bring  you  a  message: 
There  is  access  for  you  into  the  rest  of  God,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  given  to  bring  you  in,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  will  fill  your  heart  with  the  unutterable 
joy  of  Christ's  presence;  and  with  the  joy  of  deliv- 
erance from  sin,  of  victory  over  sin  ;  the  unutterable 
joy  of  knowing  that  you  are  doing  God's  will  and 
are  pleasing  in  His  sight;  the  unutterable  joy  of 
knowing  that  He  is  sanctifying  and  keeping  the 
temple  for  Christ  to  dwell  in.  Believers,  the  jo}' 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  joy  of  that  holiness  of  God, 
is  His  blessedness.  His  purity,  His  perfection, 
that  nothing  can  mar  or  stain  or  disturb.  The 
Holy  Ghost  waits  to  bring  and  to  manifest  it  in 
our  lives.  He  wants  to  come  so  into  our  hearts 
that  we  shall  live,  as  Holy  Ghost  men,  the  sancti- 
fied life,  with  the  sanctifying  power  of  Jesus  run- 
ning through  our  whole  beings. 

My  third  thought  is:   the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  the  joy  of    the    love  of    the    saints.     The   Holjr 


140  JO  V  IN  THE  HOL  V  GHOST 

Ghost  was  not  given  to  any  man  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost  separate  from  the  others;  He  came  and 
filled  the  whole  company.  We  know  how  much 
division  and  separation  and  pride  there  had  been 
among  them,  but  on  that  day  the  Holy  Ghost  so 
filled  their  hearts  that  we  find  it  was  afterward 
said:  "Behold  how  these  men  love  one  another/' 
There  was  a  love  in  the  primitive  church  that  the 
very  heathen  noticed,  and  could  not  understand. 
Why  was  that?  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  bond  of 
union  between  the  Father  and  Son;  and  that  bond 
is  love.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  just  the  love  of  God 
come  to  dwell  in  the  heart.  When  He  dwells  with 
me  and  my  brother  we  learn  to  love  each  other. 
Though  I  be  unloving  naturallj^  and  though  I 
have  very  little  grace,  if  the  heart  of  my  brother 
is  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit  he  loves  me  through  it  all. 
You  know  love  is  a  wonderful  thing.  As  long  as 
a  man  tries  to  love  it  is  not  real  love,  but  when 
real  love  comes,  the  more  opposition  it  meets  the 
more  it  triumphs,  for  the  more  it  can  exercise 
itself  and  perfect  itself,  the  more  it  rejoices.  Take 
a  mother  with  a  son  dishonoring  her.  How  her 
love  follows  him!  When  she  sees  that  he  has  fallen 
deeper  than  ever  before,  how  the  dear  mother 
heart  only  loves  him  the  more  intensely  through 
all  the  wretchedness!  Does  not  the  Scripture  say, 
"If  He  gave  His  life  for  us,  we  are  bound  to  give 
our  life  for  the  brethren?"  The  Holy  Spirit  comes 


JO  V  IX  THE  IIOL  Y  GHOST  141 

as  a  spirit  of  love,  and  if  you  want  to  know  the 
joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  want  Him  to  lead  you 
into  the  rest  of  God  and  keep  you  there,  beware 
above  everything  on  earth  or  in  hell  of  being  un- 
loving. One  sharp  word  to  your  brother  or  sister 
brings  a  cloud  upon  you  without  your  knowing  it. 
People  are  so  accustomed  to  talk  just  as  they  like 
about  each  other  that  they  say  sharp  and  unkind 
and  unloving  things,  and  when  a  cloud  comes  in 
consequence  they  cannot  understand  it.  If  there 
is  one  thing  that  grieves  God,  if  there  is  one  thing 
that  hinders  the  Spirit  —  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is 
love  —  it  is  the  want  of  lovingness.  If  yo\x  want 
to  live  in  the  jo}^  of  the  H0I3'  Ghost  make  youi 
covenant  with  God.  "But,"  you  say,  "there  is  a 
Christian  man  who  makes  me  so  impatient;  he 
does  trouble  me  and  vex  me  so  with  his  stupidity. 
And  there  are  those  worldly  men;  how  they  have 
tempted  me  in  times  past  and  done  me  harm !  And 
there  is  that  business  man  who  is  trying  to  ruin 
me."  Take  them  all,  and  your  own  wife  and  chil- 
dren and  every  one  around  you  and  sa}^,  "I  un- 
derstand it,  love  is  rest,  and  rest  is  love.  God 
resteth  in  His  love.  Love  is  rest  and  rest  is  love, 
and  where  there  is  no  love  the  rest  must  be  dis- 
turbed." And  let  us  say  to-day,  "I  see  what  the 
joy  is;  it  is  the  joy  of  always  loving,  it  is  the  joy 
of  losing  my  own  life  in  love  to  others."  In 
corinection   with    humility,  some  one    asks,  "How 


142  JO  V  IN  THE  HOL  V  GHOST 

about  that  text,  'In  honor  preferring  one  another?'" 
When  a  soul  comes  into  perfect  humility  before 
God  it  becomes  nothing,  and  God  becomes  all  in 
all.  I  am  nothing.  There  is  no  self  to  be  affronted  ; 
I  have  said  before  God:  "I  am  nothing;  it  is  only 
Th}^  life  and  light  that  shines.  The  honor  is 
Thine,  and  nothing  may  touch  me  but  what  is 
against  the  glory  of  my  God." 

Beloved,  are  you  living  in  the  joy  of  the  Holy 
Ghost?  Come  and  accept  a  blessing  and  give  3'our- 
self  up  to  live  a  life  of  humility  in  which  you  are 
nothing,  and  a  life  of  love  like  Christ's  in  which 
3^ou  only  live  for  your  fellow-men,  for  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

My  last  thought  is  that  the  joy  of  the  Hol}^  Ghost 
is  the  joy  of  working  for  God.  The  jo}^  of  the 
presence  of  Jesus,  the  joy  of  deliverance  from  sin, 
the  joy  of  love  for  the  brethren,  and  then  the  jo}^ 
of  working  for  God.  Some  of  us  have  at  times 
felt  what  an  incomprehensible  thing  it  is  that  the 
everlasting  God  should  work  through  us;  and  we 
have  said,  "Lord,  what  is  this,  that  Thou  the  Al- 
mighty One  dost  work  in  me  and  through  me,  a 
vile  worm  by  nature?"  It  is  a  mystery  that  pass- 
eth  knowledge,  and  yet  it  is  so  true.  The  joy  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  comes  when  a  man  gives  himself 
up  to  the  Christlike  work  of  carrying  the  love  of 
God  to  men.  Let  us  seek  the  perishing,  let  us 
live  and  die  for  souls,  let  us  live  and  die  that   our 


JO  V  IN  THE  IIOL  V  GHOST  143 

fellow-men  may  be  reclaimed  and  brought  back 
to  their  God.  There  is  no  joy  like  hearing  the 
joy-song  of  a  new-born  soul.  But  yes,  there  is 
another  joy  that  may  be  as  deep.  Even  if  God 
does  not  give  me  the  blessing  of  hearing  the  new- 
born soul  sing  its  song,  I  may  have  the  joy,  the 
sympathy  with  Jesus  in  His  rejected  life,  and  the 
assurance  that  the  Father  looks  with  good  pleasure 
on  me.  When  I  think  of  the  thousands  of  believers 
in  the  Christian  world  and  then  think  of  the 
heathen  world,  the  cry  comes  up  in  my  heart: 
"What  are  we  doing?-'  Ah,  we  need  to  be  crying 
to  God  da}^  and  night,  "Lord  God,  wake  us  up. 
Lord  God,  let  the  Holy  Spirit  burn  within  us." 
x\re  we  the  true  successors  of  Jesus  Christ?  Are 
we  indeed  the  followers  and  successors  of  Christ 
who  went  all  the  way  to  Calvar}^  to  give  His  blood 
for  men?  Do  let  us  remember  the  joy  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  the  joy  of  working  for  God  in 
Christ.  I  believe  that  God  has  new  ways  and 
new  leadings  and  new  power  for  His  people,  if 
they  will  only  wait  on  Him.  But  what  most  of 
us  do  is  this:  we  thank  God  for  all  He  has  given, 
we  look  at  all  the  ways  of  w^orking  we  have,  and 
we  say  that  we  will  try  to  do  our  work  better. 
But  oh,  if  vv^e  had  a  sense  of  the  need,  if  we  had 
any  sense,  b}'  the  vision  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  the 
state  of  the  millions  around  us,  I  am  sure  we 
would  fall  on  our  faces  before  God  and  say,  "God 


144  JO  V  IN  THE  HOL  Y  GHOST 

help  me  to  something  new.  Oh  that  every  fiber 
of  my  being  may  be  taken  possession  of  for  this 
great  work  with  God!"  The  great  need  is  that  all 
Christians  should  consecrate  themselves  wholly  to 
God  for  His  work.  May  God  help  us  to  know 
what  is  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Concluding,  I  ask  again:  "Do  you  believe  that 
it  is  possible  for  the  Lord  Jesus,  our  Shiloh,  of 
whom  Jacob  prophesied,  our  Joshua,  our  glorious 
King  and  High  Priest,  —  do  you  believe  it  is  possi- 
ble for  Christ  Jesus  to  bring  you  to-day  into  the 
rest  of  God?  Remember  that  word  in  Hebrews, 
"Even  as  the  H0I37  Ghost  saith,  to-day."  To- 
day, summon  up  courage  and  take  up  your  minis- 
try, and  take  up  your  business,  and  take  up  yv^ur 
surroundings,  and  take  up  3'our  natural  temper- 
ament, and  take  up  your  home,  and  take  up  j^our 
life  for  the  days  to  come  upon  earth,  and  say,  "I 
do  not  understand  it,  I  know  not  what  will  come, 
but  one  thing  I  know,  I  do  absolutely  give  every- 
thing into  the  hands  of  the  crucified  Lamb  of  God; 
He  shall  have  me  in  my  entirety."  And  oh,  re- 
member, beloved,  that  Christ  will  be  to  you  more 
than  you  can  think  or  understand,  more  than  you 
can  ask  or  desire. 

Come,  let  us  cast  ourselves  into  those  blessed, 
loving  arms,  and  let  us  believe  even  now  that  our 
Joshua  leads  us  into  the  rest  of  God,  the  rest  in 
which  we  are  saved  from  self-care  and  self-seek- 


JO  V  IN  THE  II OL  Y  GIIOS  T  145 

ing  and  self-trusting  and  self-loving,  the  rest  in 
which  we  do  not  think  of  ourselves,  but  where 
He  who  is  almighty  and  omnipresent  is  always 
going  to  be  with  us  and  is  always  going  to  work 
within  us.  And  let  us  when  we  have  done  that, 
claim  the  promise,  that  as  we  have  sought  lirst  the 
kingdom  and  God's  righteousness,  all  things  shall 
be  added  unto  us.  Beloved,  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  within  you,  and  it  is  righteousness  and  peace 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  Come,  let  us  claim 
it  even  now  in  simple,  childlike,  humble  faith. 


TRIUMPH  OF  FAITH. 
XL 

John  4:  so. — And  the  man  believed  the  word  that  Jesus   had 
spoken  unto  him. 

LET  me  quote  from  the  Gospel  according  to  St. 
John,  the  4th  chapter,  beginning  at  the  46th 
verse:  "So  Jesus  came  again  into  Cana  of  Gali- 
lee, where  He  made  the  water  wine.  And  there 
was  a  certain  nobleman  whose  son  was  sick  at  Ca- 
pernaum. When  he  heard  that  Jesus  was  come 
up  out  of  Judea  into  Galilee,  he  went  unto  Him, 
and  besought  Him  that  He  would  come  down  and 
heal  his  son;  for  he  was  at  the  point  of  death. 
Then  said  Jesus  unto  him.  Except  ye  see  signs 
and  wonders,  ye  will  not  believe."  There  you 
have  the  word  "believe"  the  first  time.  "The 
nobleman  saith  unto  Him,  Sir,  come  down  ere  my 
child  die.  Jesus  saith  unto  him.  Go  thy  way;  thy 
son  liveth.  And  the  man  believed  the  word  that 
Jesus  had  spoken  unto  him,  and  he  went  his  way." 
There  you  have  that  word  the  second  time.  "And 
as  he  was  now  going  down,  his  servants  met  him, 
and  told  him,  saying,  Th}^  son  liveth.  Then  in- 
quired he  of  them  the  hour  when  he  began  to 
146 


TRIUMPH  OF  FAITH  147 

amend.  And  they  said  unto  him,  Yesterday  at 
the  seventh  hour  the  fever  left  him.  So  the  father 
knew  that  it  was  at  the  same  hour,  in  the  which 
Jesus  said  unto  him,  Thy  son  liveth;  and  himself 
believed,  and  his  whole  house."  There  you  have 
the  word  "faith". 

This  story  has  often  been  used  to  illustrate  the 
different  steps  of  faith  in  the  spiritual  life.  It  was 
this  use  made  of  it  in  an  address  that  brought  the 
sainted  Canon  Battersby  into  the  full  enjoyment 
of  rest.  He  had  been  a  most  godly  man,  but  had 
lived  the  life  of  failure.  He  saw  in  the  story  what 
it  was  to  rest  on  the  Word  and  trust  the  saving 
power  of  Jesus,  and  from  that  night  he  was  a 
changed  man.  He  went  home  to  testify  of  it,  and 
under  God,  he  was  allowed  to  originate  the  Kes- 
wick Convention. 

Let  me  point  out  to  you  the  three  aspects  of 
faith  which  we  have  here:  first,  faith  seeking; 
then,  faith  finding;  and  then,  faith  enjoying.  Or, 
still  better:  faith  struggling;  faith  resting;  faith 
triumphing.  First  of  all,  faith  struggling.  Here 
is  a  man,  a  heathen,  a  nobleman,  who  has 
heard  about  Christ.  He  has  a  dying  son  at  Ca- 
pernaum, and  in  his  extremity  leaves  his  home, 
and  walks  some  six  or  seven  hours  away  to  Cana 
of  Galilee.  He  has  heard  of  the  Prophet,possibly, 
as  one  who  has  made  water  wine;  he  has  heard 
of  His  other  miracles  round   Capernaum,  and   he 


148  TRIUMPH  OF  FAITH 

has  a  certain  trust  that  Jesus  will  be  able  to  help 
him.  He  goes  to  Him,  and  his  prayer  is  that  the 
Lord  will  come  down  to  Capernaum  and  heal  his 
son.  Christ  said  to  him,  "Except  ye  see  signs 
and  wonders,  ye  will  not  believe."  He  saw  that 
the  nobleman  wanted  Him  to  come  and  stand  be- 
side the  child.  This  man  had  not  the  faith  of  the 
centurion  —  "Onl}^  speak  a  word."  He  had  faith. 
It  was  faith  that  came  from  hearsay,  and  it  was 
faith  that  did,  to  a  certain  extent,  hope  in  Christ; 
but  it  was  not  the  faith  in  Christ's  power  such  as 
Christ  desired.  Still  Christ  accepted  and  met  this 
faith.  After  the  Lord  had  thus  told  him  what  He 
wished  —  a  faith  that  could  fully  trust  Him  —  the 
nobleman  cried  the  second  time,  "Sir,  come  down 
ere  m}-  child  die."  Seeing  his  earnestness  and 
his  trust,  Christ  said,  "Go  thy  way;  th}?  son  iiveth." 
And  then  we  read  that  the  nobleman  believed.  He 
believed,  and  he  went  his  wa3^  He  believed  the 
word  that  Jesus  had  spoken.  In  that  he  rested 
and  was  content.  And  he  went  away  without 
having  any  other  pledge  than  the  word  of  Jesus. 
As  he  was  walking  homeward,  the  servants  met 
him,  to  tell  him  his  son  lived.  He  asked  at  what 
hour  he  began  to  amend.  And  when  they  told 
him,  he  knew  it  was  at  the  ver}^  hour  that  Jesus 
had  been  speaking  to  him.  He  had  at  first  a  faith 
that  was  seeking,  and  struggling,  and  searching 
for  blessing;  then  he  had  a  faith  that  accepted  the 


TRIUMPH  OF  FA  in  I  \  40 

blessing  simph^  as  it  was  contained  in  the  word  of 
Jesus.  When  Christ  said,  "Thy  son  liveth,"  he 
was  content,  and  went  home,  and  found  the  bless- 
ing—  the  son  restored. 

Then  came  the  third  step  in  his  faith.  He  be- 
lieved with  his  whole  house.  That  is  to  say,  he 
did  not  onl}'  believe  that  Christ  could  do  just  this 
one  thing,  the  healing  of  his  son;  but  he  believed 
in  Christ  as  his  Lord.  He  gave  himself  up  en- 
tirely to  be  a  disciple  of  Jesus.  And  that  not  only 
alone,  but  with  his  whole  house.  Man}^  Chris- 
tians are  like  the  nobleman.  They  have  heard 
about  a  better  life.  They  have  met  certain  indi- 
viduals by  whose  Christian  lives  they  have  been 
impressed,  and  consequently  have  felt  that  Christ 
can  do  wonderful  things  for  a  man.  Many  Chris- 
tians say  in  their  heart,  "I  am  sure  there  is  a  bet- 
ter life  for  me  to  live;  how  I  wish  I  could  be 
brought  to  that  blessed  state!"  But  they  have  not 
much  hope  about  it.  They  have  read,  and  prayed, 
but  they  have  found  everything  so  difficult.  If 
you  ask  them,  "Do  you  believe  Jesus  can  help 
3'ou  to  live  this  higher  life?"  they  say,"  Yes;  He  is 
omnipotent."  If  3'ou  ask,  "Do  you  believe  Jesus 
wishes  to  do  it?"  they  sa}^  "Yes,  I  know  He  is 
loving."  And  if  you  say," Do  you  believe  that  He 
will  do  it  for  you?"  the}^  at  once  say,  "I  know 
He  is  willing,  but  whether  He  will  actually  do  it 
for  me  I  do  not  know.     I  am  not    sure    that  I  am 


150  TRIUMPH  OF  FAITH 

prepared.  I  do  not  know  if  I  am  advanced  enough. 
I  do  not  know  if  I  have  enough  grace  for  that." 
And  so  they  are  hungering,  struggling,  wrestling, 
and  often  remain  unblessed.  This  state  of  things 
sometimes  goes  on  for  years — they  are  expecting  to 
see  signs  and  wonders,  and  hoping  that  God,  by  a 
miracle,  will  put  them  all  right.  They  are  just 
like  the  Israelites;  they  limit  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel.  Have  you  ever  noticed  that  it  is  the  very 
people  whom  God  has  blessed  so  wonderfully  who 
do  that?  What  did  the  Israelites  say?  "God 
hath  provided  water  in  the  wilderness.  But  can 
He  provide  the  table  in  the  wilderness?  We  do 
not  think  He  can."  And  so  we  find  believers  who 
say,  "Yes,  God  has  done  wonders.  The  whole 
of  redemption  is  a  wonder,  and  God  has  done  won- 
ders for  some  whom  I  know.  But  will  God  take 
one  so  feeble  as  I, and  put  me  entirely  right?"  The 
struggling  and  wrestling  and  seeking  are  the  be- 
ginnings of  faith  in  3^ou  —  a  faith  that  desires  and 
hopes.  But  it  must  go  on  further.  And  how  can  that 
faith  advance?  Look  at  the  second  step.  There  is 
the  nobleman,  and  Christ  speaks  to  him  this  won- 
derful word:  "Go  thy  way;  thy  son  liveth  ;"  and 
the  nobleman  simply  rests  upon  that  word  of  the 
living  Jesus.  He  rests  on  it,  and  without  any  proof 
of  what  he  is  to  get,  and  without  one  man  in  the 
world  to  encourage  him.  He  goes  away  home 
with  the  thought,  "I  have  received  the   blessing  I 


TRIUMPH  OF  FAITH  151 

sought;  I  have  got  life  from  the  dead  for  my  son. 
The  living  Christ  promised  it  me,  and  on  that  I 
rest."  The  struggling,  seeking  faith  has  become 
a  resting  faith.  The  man  has  entered  into  rest 
about  his  son. 

And  now,  detir  belitjvers,  this  is  the  one    thing 
God  asks  you  to  do:     God  has  said  that  in  Christ 
you   have   eternal    life,   the    more  abundant    life; 
Christ  has  said  to  you,  "I  live,  and  ye  shall   live 
also."     The  Word  says  to  us  that   Christ   is   our 
Peace,  our  Victory  over  every  enemy,  who    leads 
us  into  the  rest  of  God.        These  are  the  words  of 
God,  and  His  message  has  come  to  us  that  Christ 
can  do  for  us  what  Moses   could   not   have    done. 
Moses   had    no    Christ  to   live  in   him.     But  it  is 
told  you  that  you   can   have   what  Moses  had  not; 
you  can  have    a  living   Christ  within  you.     And 
are  you  going  to  believe  that,  apart  fiom    any  ex- 
perience, and    apart    from    any    consciousness    of 
strength?     If  the  peace  of  God  is  to  rule  in    your 
heart,it  is  the  God  of  peace  Himself  must  be  there 
to  do  it.     The  peace  is  inseparable  from  the  God. 
The  light  of  the  sun  —  can  I  separate  that    from 
the  sun?     Utterly  impossible.      As  long  as  I  have 
the  sun    I    have  the  light.     If  I  lose  the  sun  I  lose 
the  light.     Take  care!     Do  not  seek  the  peace  of 
God  or  the  peace  of  Christ    apart  from   God   and 
Christ.     But  how  does  Christ  come  to  me?     He 
comes  to  me  in   this  precious  Word;  and  just  as 


152  TRIUMPH  OF  FAITH 

He  said  to  the  nobleman,  "Go  thy  way  home;  thy 
son  liveth,"  so  Christ  comes  tometo-daj^  and  He 
says,  "Go  thy  way;  thy  Saviour  livet])."  "Lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway."  "I  live,  and  ye  shall  live 
also."  "I  Vv'ait  to  take  charge  of  your  whole  life. 
Will  you  have  me  do  this?  Trust  to  me  all  that 
is  evil  and  feeble;  3^our  whole  sinful  and  perverse 
nature  —  give  it  up  to  Me ;  that  dying, sin-sick  soul 
—  give  it  up  to  Me,  and  I  will  take  care  of  it." 
Will  you  not  listen  and  hear  Him  speak  to  your 
soul?  "Child,  go  forward  into  all  the  circum- 
stances of  life  that  have  tempted  you;  into  all  the 
difficulties  that  threaten  you."  Your  soul  lives  with 
the  life  of  God;  3^our  soul  lives  in  the  power  of 
God;  3^our  soul  lives  in  Christ  Jesus.  Will  }^ou 
not,  like  the  nobleman,  take  the  simple  step  of 
faith,  and  believe  the  word  Jesus  hath  spoken  ? 
Will  you  not  say,  "Lord  Jesus,  Thou  hast  spoken : 
I  can  rest  on  Thy  Word.  I  have  seen  that  Christ 
is  willing  to  be  more  to  me  than  I  ever  knew;  I 
have  seen  that  Christ  is  willing  to  be  my  life  in 
the  most  actual  and  intense  meaning  of  the  words." 
All  that  we  know  about  the  Holy  Ghost  sums  itself 
up  in  this  one  thing:  The  Holy  Ghost  comes  to 
make  Christ  an  actual,  indwelling,  alwaj^s-abid- 
ing  Saviour. 

Lastl}^  comes  the  triumphant  faith.  The  man 
went  home  holding  fast  the  promise.  He  had  only 
one  premise,  but  he  held  it  fast.   When  God  gives 


TRIUMPH  OF  FAITH  153 

me  a  promise,  He  is  just  as  near  me  as  when  He 
fulfills  it.  That  is  a  great  comfort.  Wlien  I  have 
the  promise  I  have  also  the  pledge  of  the  fullill- 
ment.  But  the  whole  heart  of  God  is  in  His 
promise,  just  as  much  as  in  the  fulfillment  of  it, 
and  sometimes  God,  the  promiser,  is  more  precious 
because  I  am  compelled  to  cling  more  to  Him, 
and  to  come  closer,  and  to  live  by  simple  faith, 
and  to  adore  His  love.  Do  not  think  this  is  a 
hard  life,  to  be  living  upon  a  promise.  It  means 
living  upon  the  everlasting  God.  Who  is  going 
to  say  that  is  hard?  It  means  living  upon  the 
crucified,  the  loving  Christ.  Be  ashamed  to  say 
that  is  a  difficult  thing.      It  is  a  blessed  thing. 

The  nobleman  went  home  and  found  the  child 
living.  And  what  happened  then?  Two  things. 
First:  he  gave  up  his  whole  life  to  be  a  believer 
in  Jesus.  If  there  had  been  a  division  among  the 
people  of  Capernaum,  and  thousands  of  them  had 
hated  Christ,  this  man  would  still  have  stood  on 
His  side.  He  believed  in  the  Lord.  This  is  what 
must  take  place  with  us.  Let  us  go  forward  with 
our  trust  in  the  living  Christ,  knowing  that  He 
will  keep  us.  Then  we  will  get  grace  to  carry 
the  life  of  Christ  into  our  whole  conduct,  into  all 
our  walk  and  conversation.  The  faith  that  rests 
in  Jesus,  is  the  faith  that  trusts  all  to  Him,  with  all 
we  have.  Do  we  not  read  that  when  God  had 
finished  His  work,  and  rested,  it  was    only  to  be- 


154  TRIUMPH  OF  FAITH 

gin  new  work?  Yes;  the  great  work  was  to  be 
carried  on  —  watching  over  and  ruling  Flis  world 
and  His  church.  And  is  it  not  so  with  the  Lord 
Jesus?  When  He  had  finished  His  work,  He  sat 
upon  the  throne  to  do  His  work  of  perfecting  the 
body,  through  the  Hol}^  Spirit.  And  now,  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  carr3nng  on  that  blessed  work, 
teaching  us  to  rest  in  Christ,  and  in  the  strength 
of  that  rest  to  go  on,  and  to  cover  our  whole  life 
with  the  power,  and  the  obedience,  and  the  will, 
and  the  likeness  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  The  noble- 
man gave  up  his  whole  life  to  be  a  believer  in 
Christ ;  and  from  that  day  it  was  a  believer  in  Jesus 
who  walked  about  the  streets  of  Capernaum;  not 
only  a  man  who  could  say,"  Once  He  helped  me," 
but,  "I  believe  in  Him  with  my  whole  life."  Let 
that  be  so  with  us  ever3^where ;  let  Christ  be  the  one 
object  of  our  trust. 

One  thought  more,  —  he  believed  with  his  whole 
house.  That  was  triumphant  faith.  He  took  up 
his  position  as  a  believer  in  Christ;  and  his  wife, 
his  children,  his  servants  — he  gathered  them  all 
together,  and  laid  them  at  the  feet  of  Christ.  And 
if  you  w'ant  power  in  your  own  house,  if  you  want 
power  in  your  Bible-class,  if  you  want  power  in 
your  social  circle,  if  you  want  power  to  influence 
the  nation  and  if  you  want  power  to  influence  the 
Church  of  Christ,  see  where  it  begins.  Come  into 
contact  with  Jesus  in  this  rest  of  faith  that  accepts 


TRIi  'MPir  OF  FA IT/r  J 55 

His  life  fully,  that  trusts  Him  fully,  and  the  power 
will  come  by  faith  to  overcome  the  world ;  by  faith 
to  bless  others;  by  faith  to  live  a  life  to  the  glory 
of  God.  Go  thy  way,  th}^  soul  liveth;  for  it  is 
Jesus  Christ  who  liveth  within  you.  Go  thy  way; 
be  not  trembling  and  fearful,  but  7'csi  in  ihc  word 
and  the  -power  of  the  Son  of  God,  "Lo,  I  am 
with  you  alway."  Go  th}'  way,  with  the  heart 
open  to  welcome  Him,  and  the  heart  believing  He 
has  come  in.  Surely  we  have  not  prayed  in  vain. 
Christ  has  listened  to  the  yearnings  of  our  hearts 
and  has  entered  in.  Let  us  go  our  way  quietly, 
restfully,  full  of  praise,  and  joy,  and  trust;  ever 
hearing  the  words  of  our  Master,  "Go  thy  way, 
thy  soul  liveth  ;''  and  ever  saying,  "I  have  trusted 
Christ  to  reveal  His  abundant  life  in  my  soul;  by 
His  grace  I  will  wait  upon  Him  to  fulfill  His  prom- 


THE  SOURCE  OF  POWER  IN  PRAYER. 
XII. 

•  Romans  8:  26-2'j. — Likezvise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  in- 
firmities:  for  we  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  zve 
ought :  but  the  Spirit  itself  maketh  intercession  for  us  with 
groanings  ivhich  cannot  be  uttered.  And  he  that  searcheth 
the  hearts  knoweth  zvhat  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  because 
he  maketh  intercession  for  the  saints  according  to  the  will 
of  God. 

HERE  we  have  the  teaching  of  God  regarding 
the  help  the  Holy  Spirit  will  give  us  in  pra3^er. 
The  first  half  of  this  chapter  is  of  much  importance 
in  connection  with  the  teaching  of  God's  word 
regarding  the  Spirit.  In  Romans  vi.  we  read 
about  being  dead  to  sin  and  alive  to  God,  and  in 
Romans  vii.,  about  being  dead  to  the  law  and 
married  to  Christ,  and  also  about  the  impotency  of 
the  unregenerate  man  to  do  God's  will.  This  is  only 
a  preparation  to  show  us  how  helpless  we  are;  and 
then  in  the  eighth  chapter  comes  the  blessed  work 
of  the  Spirit,  expressed  chiefly  in  the  following 
words:  "The  Spirit  hath  made  us  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death."  The  Spirit  makes  us  free 
from  the  power  of  sin,  and  teaches  and  leads  us 
-lo   that  we  walk    after  the   Spirit.      In  our  inner 

156 


THE  SOURCE  OE POWER  LW  ERAYhK  ir,7 

disposition  we  may  become  spiritually  minded, 
and  enabled  to  mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body.  The 
Holy  Spirit  helps  our  infirmities.  Prayer  is  the 
most  necessary  thing  in  the  spiritual  life.  Yet 
we  do  not  know  how  to  pray  nor  what  to  pray  for 
as  we  ought.  The  Spirit,  Paul  tells  us,  prays 
with  groanings  unutterable.  And  again  he  tells 
us  that  we  ourselves  often  do  not  know  what  the 
Spirit  is  doing  within  us,  but  there  is  one,  God, 
who  searches  the  hearts.  Words  often  reveal  my 
thought  and  my  wishes,  but  not  what  is  deep  in 
my  heart,  and  God  comes  and  searches  my  heart, 
and  deep  down,  hidden,  what  I  can  not  see  and 
what  was  to  me  an  unutterable  longing,  God  finds. 
Powerful  prayer!  The  confession  of  ignor- 
ance I  Ah,  friends,  I  am  often  afraid  for  myself  as 
a  minister  that  I  pray  too  easily.  I  have  been 
praying  for  these  forty  or  fifty  years  and  it  be- 
comes, as  far  as  man  is  concerned,  an  easy  thing 
to  pray.  We  all  have  been  taught  to  pray,  and 
v^'hen  we  are  called  upon  we  can  pray,  but  it 
gets  far  too  easy,  and  I  am  afraid  we  think  we 
are  praying  often  when  there  is  little  real  prayer. 
Now  if  we  are  to  have  the  praying  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  us  one  thing  is  needed;  we  must  begin 
by  feeling,  "  I  can  not  pray.''  When  a  man  breaks 
down  and  can  not  pray,  and  there  is  a  fire  burning 
in  his  heart,  and  a  burden  resting  upon  him,  there 
is  something  drawing  him  to  God."  I  know  not  what 


158  THE  SO  URGE  OF  PO  WER  IN  PR  A  YER 

to  pray,"  —  oh,  blessed  ignorance!  We  are  not 
ignorant  enough.  Abraham  went  out  not  knowing 
whither  he  went;  in  that  was  an  elenrjent  of  ignor- 
ance and  also  an  element  of  faith.  Jesus  said  to  His 
discpies  when  they  came  with  their  prayer  for  the 
throne,  "You  know  not  what  you  ask."  Paul  says, 
"No  man  knoweth  the  things  of  God  but  the  Spirit 
of  God."  You  say,  "If  I  am  not  to  pray  the  old 
prayers  I  learned  from  my  mother  or  from  my  pro- 
fessor in  college  or  from  m}^  experience  yesterday 
and  the  day  before,  what  am  I  to  pray?"  I  answer, 
pray  new  pra3^ers,rise  higher  into  the  riches  of  God. 
You  must  begin  to  feel  your  ignorance.  You  know 
what  we  thinkof  a  student  who  goes  to  college  fan- 
cying he  knows  everything.  He  will  not  learn 
much.  Sir  IsaacNewton  said,  "  I  do  not  know  what 
I  may  appear  to  the  world ;  but  to  myself  I  seem  to 
have  been  only  like  a  bo}^  playing  on  the  seashore 
and  diverting  myself  in  now  and  then  finding  a 
smoother  pebble  or  a  prettier  shell  than  ordinary, 
whilst  the  great  ocean  of  truth  la}^  all  undiscovered 
before  me."  When  1  see  a  man  who  can  not  pray 
glibly  and  smoothly  and  readily,  I  say  that  is  a 
mark  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  When  he  begins  in  his 
prayers  to  say,  "Oh,  God,  I  want  more,  I  want  to 
be  led  deeper  in.  I  have  prayed  for  the  heathen, 
but  I  want  to  feel  the  burden  of  the  heathen  in  a 
new  way,"  it  is  an  indication  of  the  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,     I  tell  you,  beloveds  if  you  will  take 


rilE  so  URCE  OF  PO  WER  IN  PR  A  \  ER  159 

time  and  let  God  lay  the  burden  of  the  heathen 
heavier  upon  you  until  you  begin  to  feel,  "  I 
have  never  prayed,"  it  will  be  the  most  blessed 
thing  in  your  life.  And  so  with  regard  to  the 
church:  We  want  to  take  up  our  position  as  mem- 
bers of  the  church  of  Christ  in  this  land;  and  as 
belonging  to  that  great  body,  to  say,  "Lord  God, 
is  there  nothing  that  can  be  done  to  bless  the 
church  of  this  land  and  to  revive  it  and  bring  it 
out  of  its  worldliness  and  out  of  its  feebleness?^' 
We  may  confer  together  and  conclude  faithless!}', 
"No, we  do  not  know  what  is  to  be  done;  we  have 
no  influence  and  power  over  all  these  ministers  and 
their  churches."  But  on  the  other  hand, how  blessed 
to  come  to  God  and  say,  "Lord, we  know  not  what 
to  ask.  Thou  knowest  what  to  grant."  The  Holy 
Spirit  could  pray  a  hundred  fold  more  in  us  if  we 
were  only  conscious  of  our  ignorance,  because  we 
would  then  feel  our  dependence  upon  Him.  May 
God  teach  us  our  ignorance  in  prayer  and  our  im- 
potence, and  may  God  bring  us  to  say,  "Lord,  we 
can  not  pray  ;  we  do  not  know-  what  prayer  is."  Of 
course  some  of  us  do  know  in  a  measure  what  prayer 
is,  many  of  us,  and  we  thank  God  for  what  he  has 
been  to  us  in  answer  to  prayer,  but  oh,  it  is  only  a 
little  beginning  co:r.pared  to  what  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God  teaches. 

There  is  the  first   thought:  our  ignorance.  "We 
know  not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  we  ought;" 


160  THE  SO  UR  CE  OF  PO  WER  IN  PR  A  YER 

but  '4he  Spirit  itself  maketh  intercession  for  us 
with  groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered."  We 
often  hear  about  the  work  of  God  the  Father  and  the 
Son  and  the  Hol}^  Ghost  in  working  out  and  com- 
pleting the  great  redemption,  and  we  know  that 
when  God  worked  in  the  creation  of  the  world, 
He  was  not  weary,  and  yet  we  read  that  won- 
derful expression  in  the  book  of  Exodus  about  the 
Sabbath  day,  ''God  rested  and  was  refreshed."  He 
was  refreshed, the  Sabbath  day  was  a  refreshment  to 
Him.  God  had  to  work  and  Christ  had  to  work, 
and  now  the  Holy  Spirit  works,  and  His  secret 
working  place,  the  place  where  all  work  must  be- 
gin, is  in  the  heart  v/here  He  comes  to  teach  a 
man  how  to  pray.  When  a  man  begins  to  get  an 
insight  into  that  which  is  needed  and  that  which 
is  promised  and  that  which  God  waits  to  perform, 
he  feels  it  to  be  beyend  his  conception;  then  is  the 
time  he  will  be  reac^y  to  say,  "I  can  not  limit  the 
holy  one  of  Israel  by  my  thoughts;  I  give  myself 
up  in  the  faith  th?it  the  Holy  Spirit  can  be  praying 
for  me  Vt^ith  groanings,  with  longings,  that  can 
not  be  expressed."  Apply  that  to  your  prayers. 
There  are  different  phases  of  prayer.  There  is 
worship,  when  a  man  just  bows  down  to  adore  the 
great  God.  We  do  not  take  time  to  worship.  We 
need  to  worship  in  secret,  just  to  get  ourselves  face 
to  face  with  tlie  everlasting  God,  that  He  may 
oversh9dow  xr^  and  cover  us  and  fill  us  with  His 


THE  SO  URCE  OF  POWER  IN  PR  A  YER  161 

love  and  His  glory.  It  is  the  Holy  Spirit  that  can 
work  in  us  such  a  yearning  that  we  will  give  up 
our  pleasures  and  even  part  of  our  busines.^,  that 
we  may  the  oftenermeet  our  God. 

The  next  phase  of  prayer  is  fellowship.  In  prayer 
there  is  not  only  the  worship  of  a  king,  but  fellow- 
ship as  of  a  child  with  God.  Christians  take  far  too 
little  time  in  fellowship.  They  think  prayer  is  just 
coming  with  their  petitions.  If  Christ  is  to  make 
me  what  I  am  to  be,  I  must  tarry  in  fellowship 
with  God.  If  God  is  to  let  his  love  enter  in  and 
shine  and  burn  through  my  heart,  I  must  take 
time  to  be  with  Him.  The  smith  puts  his  rod  of 
iron  into  the  fire.  If  he  leaves  it  there  but  a  short 
time  it  does  not  become  red  hot.  He  may  take  it 
out  to  do  something  with  it  and  after  a  time  put  it 
back  again  for  a  few  minutes,  but  this  time  it  does 
not  become  red  hot.  In  the  course  of  the  day  he 
may  put  the  rod  into  the  fire  a  great  many  times 
and  leave  it  there  two  or  three  minutes  each  time, 
but  it  never  becomes  thoroughly  heated.  If  he  takes 
time  and  leaves  the  rod  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  in 
the  fire  the  whole  iron  will  become  red  hot  with 
the  heat  that  is  in  the  fire.  So  if  we  are  to  get  the 
fire  of  God's  holiness  and  love  and  power  we 
must  take  more  time  with  God  in  fellowship.  That 
was  what  gave  men  like  Abraham  and  Moses 
their  strength.  They  were  men  who  were  sepa- 
rated to  a  fellowship  with  God,  and  thr  living  God 


162  THE  SO  URGE  OF  PO  WER  IN  PR  A  YER 

made  them  strong.  Oh,  if  we  did  but  realize  what 
prayer  can  do! 

Another,  and  a  most  important  phase  of  prayer 
is  intercession.  What  a  work  God  has  set  open 
for  those  who  are  His  priests  —  intercessors!  We 
find  a  wonderful  expression  in  the  prophec}^  of 
Isaiah;  God  says,  -'Let  him  take  hold  of  me;" 
and  again,  "There  is  none  that  stirreth  up  himself 
to  take  hold  of  thee."  In  other  passages  God 
refers  to  the  intercessors  for  Israel.  Have  3'ou 
ever  taken  hold  of  God?  Thank  God,  some  of 
us  have;  but  oh,  friends,  representatives  of  the 
church  of  Christ  in  the  United  States,  if  God 
were  to  show  us  how  much  there  is  of  intense 
prayer  for  a  revival  through  the  church,  how  much 
of  sincere  confession  of  the  sins  of  the  church, 
how  much  of  pleading  with  God  and  giving  Him 
no  rest  till  He  make  Jerusalem  a  glory  in  the 
earth,  I  think  we  should  all  be  ashamed.  We 
need  to  give  up  our  hearts  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  that 
He  may  pray  for  us  and  in  us  with  groanings  that 
can  not  be  uttered. 

What  am  I  to  do  if  I  am  to  have  this  Holy  Spirit 
within  me?  The  Spirit  wants  time  and  room  in  the 
heart;  He  wants  the  whole  being.  He  wants  all  my 
interest  and  influence  going  out  for  the  honor  and 
the  glory  of  God ;  He  wants  me  to  give  myself  up. 
Beloved  friend,  you  do  not  know  what  3'ou  could 
do  if  you  would  give  yourself   up   to  intercession. 


THE  SO  URCE  OF  PO IVER  IN  PR  A  I  'ER  /-;^ 

It  is  a  work  that  a  sick  one  lying  on  a  bed  year 
by  year  may  do  in  power.  It  is  a  work  that  a  poor 
one  who  has  hardly  a  penny  to  give  to  a  mission- 
ary society  can  do  day  by  day.  It  is  a  work  that 
a  young  girl  who  is  in  her  father's  house  and  has 
to  help  in  the  housekeeping  can  do  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  People  often  ask:  What  does  the  Church 
of  our  day  do  to  reach  the  masses?  They  ask, 
though  they  ask  it  tremblingl}^,  for  they  feel  so 
helpless:  What  can  we  do  against  the  materialism 
and  infidelity  in  places  like  London  and  Berlin 
and  New  York  and  Paris?  We  have  given  it  up 
as  hopeless.  Ah,  if  men  and  women  could  be 
called  out  to  band  themselves  together  to  take  hold 
upon  God  !  I  am  not  speaking  of  any  prayer  union 
or  any  prayer  time  statedly  set  apart,  but  if  the 
Spirit  could  find  men  and  women  who  would  give 
up  their  lives  to  cry  to  God,  the  Spirit  would  most 
surely  come.  It  is  not  selfishness  and  it  is  not 
mere  happiness  that  we  seek  when  we  talk  about 
the  peace  and  the  rest  and  the  blessing  Christ  can 
give.  God  wants  us,  Christ  wants  us,  because  He 
has  to  do  a  work ;  the  work  of  Calvary  is  to  be 
done  in  our  hearts,  we  are  to  sacrifice  our  lives  to 
pleading  with  God  for  men.  Oh,  let  us  yield  our- 
selves day  by  .day  and  ask  God  that  it  may  please 
Him  to  let  His  Holy  Spirit  work  in  us. 

Then  comes  the  last  thought,  that  God   Himself 
comes  to  look  with  complacency  upon  the  attitude 


164  THE  SO  URGE  OF  PO  WER  IN  PR  A  YER 

of  His  child.  Perhaps  that  poor  man  does  not 
know  that  he  is  praying;  perhaps  he  is  ashamed 
of  his  prayers.  So  much  the  better.  Perhaps 
he  feels  burdened  and  restless,  but  God  hears,  God 
discovers  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  and  will 
answer.  Oh,  think  of  this  wonderful  mystery,  God 
the  Father  on  the  throne  ready  to  grant  unto  us 
His  blessings  according  to  the  riches  of  His  glory ; 
Christ  the  almighty  high  priest  pleading  day  and 
night.  His  whole  person  is  one  intercession,  and 
there  goes  up  from  Him  without  ceasing  the  plead- 
ing to  the  Father,  "Bless  thy  church,"  and  the 
answer  comes  from  the  Father  to  the  Son,  and 
from  the  Son  down  to  the  church,  and  if  it  does 
not  reach  us,  it  is  because  our  hearts  are  closed. 
Let  us  open  and  enlarge  our  hearts  and  say  to 
God,  '^Oh  that  I  might  be  a  priest,  to  enter  God's 
presence  continually  and  to  take  hold  of  God  and 
to  bring  down  a  blessing  to  my  perishing  fellow- 
men  !"  God  longs  to  find  the  intercession  of  Jesus 
reflected  in  the  hearts  of  His  children,  and  where 
He  finds  it,  it  is  a  delight.  And  He  that  search- 
eth  the  hearts  knovv^eth  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  be- 
cause he  prayeth  for  the  saints,  according  to  the 
will  of  God.  Some  one  has  spoken  of  that  word, 
*'for  the  saints,''  as  meaning  the  spirit  of  praise  in 
the  believer  for  the  saints  throughout  the  world. 
God's  word  continually  comes  to  us  to  pray  for  all 
and    not  to    be    content    with   ourselves.     Think 


THE  SO  URCE  OE  PO  WER  m  PR  A  YER  1  (55 

upon  the  hundreds  of  cliurch  members  in  this  hmd, 
multitudes  unconverted,  multitudes  just  converted, 
but  yet'worldly  and  careless.  Think  of  the  thou- 
sands of  nominal  Christians  —  Christians  in  name, 
but  robbing  God!  and  can  we  be  happy?  If  we 
bear  the  burden  of  souls,  can  we  have  this  peace 
and  joy?  God  gives  3'ou  peace  and  joy  with  no 
other  object  than  that  you  should  be  strong  to  bear 
the  burden  of  souls  in  the  jo}-  of  Christ's  salvation. 
We  do  not  wish  to  say,  "I  am  trying  to  be  as 
holy  as  I  can  ;  what  have  I  to  do  with  those  worldly 
people  about  me?''  If  there  is  a  terrible  disease 
in  my  hand,  my  body  can  not  say,  "  I  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it."  When  the  people  had  sinned  Ezra 
rent  his  garments  and  bowed  in  tlie  dust  and  made 
confession.  He  repented  on  the  part  of  the  peo- 
ple. And  Nehemiah,  when  the  nation  sinned, 
made  confession,  and  cast  himself  before  God,  de- 
ploring their  disobedience  to  the  God  of  their 
fathers.  Daniel  did  the  very  same.  And  think 
you  that  we  as  believers  have  not  a  great  work  to 
do?  Suppose  we  were  each,  persons  without  a 
single  sin ;  just  suppose  it;  could  we  then  make 
confession.?  Look  at  Christ,  without  sin!  He 
went  down  into  the  waters  of  baptism  with  sin- 
ners; He  made  Himself  one  with  them.  God  has 
spoken  to  us  to  ask  us  if  we  realize  what  we  are. 
He  now  asks  us  whether  we  belong  to  the  church 
of  this  land,  whether  we  have  boine  the  burden  of 


166  THE  SOURCE  OF  PO  WER  IN  PR  A  YRR 

sin  around  us.  Let  us  go  to  God  and  may  He  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  fill  our  hearts  with  unutterable  sor- 
row at  the  state  of  the  church,  and  may  God  give 
us  grace  to  mourn  before  Him.  And  when  we 
begin  to  confess  the  sins  of  the  church,  we  will 
begin  to  feel  our  own  sins  as  never  before.  In 
five  of  the  epistles  to  the  seven  churches  in  Asia 
the  keynote  was  "Repent ;"  there  was  to  be  no  idea 
of  overcoming  and  getting  a  blessing  unless  they 
repented.  Let  us  on  behalf  of  the  church  of 
Christ  repent,  and  God  will  give  us  courage  to 
feel  that  He  will  revive  His  work. 


THAT  GOD  MAY  BE  ALL  IN  ALL. 
XIIL 

/  Corinthians  ij:  24-2S.—"T/im  comcth  the  end,  when  He 
shall  have  delivered-  up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the 
Father;  -when  He  shall  have  put  doivn  all  rule,  and  all 
authority  and  power.  For  He  must  reign  till  He  hath  put 
all  enemies  under  His  feet.  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be 
destroyed  is  death.  For  He  hath  put  all  things  under  His 
feet.  But  when  He  saith,  All  things  are  put  under  Him, 
it  is  manifest  that  He  is  e.xcepted,  which  did  put  all  things 
under  Him.  And  when  all  things  shall  be  subdued  unto 
him,  then  shall  th^  Sojv also  Himself  be  subject  unto  Him, 
that  God  may  be  all  in  all. 

HIS  will  be  the  grand  conclusion  of  the  great 
^  drama  of  the  world's  history,  and  of  Christ's 
redemption.  There  will  come  a  day  — the  glory 
is  such  we  can  form  no  conception  of  it,  the  mys- 
tery is  so  deep  we  can  not  realize  it,  but  there  is  a 
day  coming,  when  the  Son  shall  deliver  up  the 
Kingdom  that  the  Father  gave  Him,  and  that  He 
won  with  His  blood,  and  that  He  hath  established 
and  perfected  from  the  throne  of  His  glory.  ^^'^He 
shall  deliver  up  the  Kingdom  unto  the  Father."  The 
Son  Himself  shall  be  subject  also  unto  the  Father, 
"that  God  may  be  all  in  all."  I  cannot  understand  it 
—  the  ever  blessed  Son  equal  with  God,  from  eter- 

107 


T 


168  THA  T  GOD  MA  V  BE  ALL  IN  ALL 

nity,  and  through  eternity ;  the  ever  blessed  Son 
on  the  throne  shall  be  subject  unto  the  Father;  and 
in  some  way  utterly  beyond  our  comprehension, 
it  shall  then  be  made  manifest,  as  never  before, 
that  God  is  all  in  all.  It  is  this  that  Christ  has 
been  working  for;  it  is  this  that  He  is  w'orking 
for  to-day  in  us;  it  is  this  that  He  thought  it  worth 
while  to  give  His  blood  for;  it  is  this  that  His 
heart  is  longing  for  in  each  of  us;  this  is  the  very 
essence  and  glory  of  Christianity,  "that  God 
may  be  all  in  alL"  And  now,  if  this  is  what  fills 
the  heart  of  Christ;  if  this  expresses  the  one  end 
of  the  work  of  Christ,  then,  if  I  want  to  have  the 
spirit  of  Christ  in  me,  the  motto  of  m}^  life  must 
be:  Everything  made  subject,  and  swallowed  up 
in  Him,  "that  God  may  be  all  in  all."  What  a 
trium'ph  it  would  be  if  the  Church  were  fighting 
really  with  that  banner  floating  over  her!  What 
a  life  ours  could  be  if  that  were  really  our  banner! 
To  serve  God  fully,  wholl}?',  only,  to  have  Him 
all  in  all!  How  it  would  ennoble,  and  enlarge, 
and  stimulate  our  whole  being!  I  am  work- 
ing, I  am  fighting,  "that  God  may  be  all  in 
all;"  that  the  daj^  of  glor}^  may  be  hastened.  I 
am  praying,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  makes  His  wrest- 
ling in  me  with  unutterable  longing,  "that  God 
may  be  all  in  all."  Would  that  we  Christians 
realized  in  connection  with  vvhat  a  grand  cause 
we  are  working  and    praying;  that  we  had    some 


77/.  /  T  GOD  A/A  V  BE  ALL  LN  ALL  169 

conception  of  what  a  Kingdom  we  are  partakers 
of,  and  what  a  manifestation  of  God  we  are  pre- 
paring for.  To  illustrate  what  a  grand  thing  it  is 
to  belong  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  to  the  glo- 
rious Church  of  Christ  on  earth,  John  McNeill 
tells  how  when  he  was  a  boy  twelve  years  of  age, 
working  on  a  railway  line  and  earning  the  grand 
wages  of  six  shillings  a  week,  he  used  to  go  home 
to  his  mother  and  sisters,  who  thought  no  end  of 
their  little  Johnnie,  and  delight  them  by  telling  of 
the  position  he  had.  He  w-ould  say  with  great  pride, 
"Oh,  our  company  —  it  has  so  manj^  thousands  of 
pounds  passing  through  its  hands  every  year ;  it  car- 
ries so  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  passengers 
every  year ;  and  it  has  so  many  miles  of  railway,  and 
so  many  engines  and  carriages;  and  so  many 
thousands  in  its  employ !"  And  the  mother  and 
the  sisters  had  great  pride  in  him,  because  he  was 
a  partner  in  such  an  important  business.  Chris- 
tians, if  we  would  onl}'  rouse  ourselves  to  believe 
that  we  belong  to  the  Kingdom  that  Christ  is  pre- 
paring to  deliver  up  to  the  Father,  that  God  may 
be  all  in  all,  how  the  glory  would  fill  our  hearts, 
and  expel  everything  mean,  and  low,  and  earthly! 
How  we  should  be  borne  along  in  this  blessed 
faith!  lam  living  for  this:  that  Christ  may  have 
the  Kingdom  to  deliver  to  the  Father.  I  am  liv- 
ing for  this,  and  I  will  one  day  see  Him  made 
subject  to  the  Father,  and  then   God  all  in  all.      I 


170  THA  T  GOD  MA  V  BE  ALL  LN  ALL 

am  living  for  Him,  and  I  shall  be  there  not  only 
as  a  witness,  but  I  will  have  a  part  in  it  all.  The 
Kingdom  delivered  up,  the  Son  made  subject,  and 
God  all  in  all!  I  shall  have  a  part  in  it,  and  in 
adoring  worship  share. the  glory  and  the  blessed- 
ness. 

Let  us  take  this  home  to  our  hearts,  that  it  may 
rule  in  our  lives  —  this  one  thought,  this  one  faith, 
this  one  aim,  this  one  joy:  Christ  lived,  and 
died,  and  reigns;  I  live  and  die  and  in  His  power 
I  reign;  onl}^  for  this  one  thing,  "that  God  maj^ 
be  all  in  all."  Let  it  possess  our  whole  heart,  and 
life.  How  can  we  do  this?  It  is  a  serious  ques- 
tion, to  which  I  wish  to  give  you  a  few  simple 
answers.  And  I  say,  first  of  all:  Allow  God  to 
take  His  place  in  your  heart  and  life.  Luther  often 
said  to  people,  when  they  came  troubling  him 
about  difficulties,  "Do  let  God  be  God."  Oh, 
give  God  His  place.  And  what  is  that  place? 
"That  God  may  be  all  in  all."  Let  God  be  all  in  all 
every  day, from  morning  to  evening.  God  to  rule 
and  I  to  obey.  Ah,  the  blessedness  of  saying,  "God 
and  I!"  Whataprivilege  that  I  have  such  a  partner! 
Godfirst,and  then  I!  And  yet  there  might  be  se- 
cret self-exaltation  in  associating  God  with  myself. 
And  I  find  in  the  Bible  a  more  precious  word  still.  It 
is,  "God  and  not  I."  It  is  not,  "God  first,  and  I  sec- 
ond;" God  is  all,  and  I  am  nothing.  Paul  said,  "I 
labored  more  abundantly  than  they  all ;  though  I  be 


Til  A  T  GOD  MA  Y  BE  ALL  IN  ALL  171 

nothing."  Let  us  try  to  give  God  His  place  —  be- 
gin in  our  closet,  in  our  worship,  in  our  prayer. 
The  power  of  prayer  depends  almost  entirely  upon 
our  apprehension  of  who  it  is  with  whom  I  speak. 
It  is  of  the  greatest  consequence,  if  we  have  but 
half  an  hour  in  which  to  pray,  that  we  take  time 
to  get  a  sight  of  this  great  God,  in  His  power,  in 
His  love,  in  His  nearness,  just  waiting  to  bless  us. 
This  is  of  far  more  consequence  than  spending  the 
whole  half  hour  in  pouring  out  numberless  pe- 
titions, and  pleading  numberless  promises.  The 
great  thing  is  to  feel  that  we  are  putting  our  sup- 
plications into  the  bosom  of  omnipotent  Love.  Be- 
fore and  above  everything^  let  us  take  time  ere 
we  pray  to  realize  the  glory  and  presence  of  God. 
Give  God  His  place  in  every  prayer.  I  say,  allow 
God  to  have  His  place.  I  can  not  give  God  His 
place  upon  the  throne  —  in  a  certain  sense  I  can, 
and  I  ought  to  try.  The  great  thing,  however, 'is 
for  me  to  feel  that  I  can  not  realize  what  that 
place  is,  but  God  will  increasingl}^  reveal  Himself 
and  the  place  He  holds.  How  do  I  know  anything 
about  the  sun?  Because  the  sun  shines,  and  in  its 
light  I  see  what  the  sun  is.  The  sun  is  its  own 
evidence.  No  philosopher  could  have  told  me 
about  the  sun  if  the  sun  did  not  shine.  No  power 
of  meditation  and  thought  can  grasp  the  presence 
of  God.  Be  quiet,  and  trusting,  and  resting,  and 
the  everlasting   God   will   shine   into  your  heart, 


172  THA  T  GOD  MA  Y  BE  ALL  IN  ALL 

and  will  reveal  Himself.  And  then,  just  as  nat- 
urally as  I  enjoy  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  as 
naturally  as  I  look  upon  the  pages  of  a  book 
knowing  that  I  can  see  the  letters  because  the 
light  shines;  just  as  naturally  will  God  reveal 
Himself  to  the  waiting  soul,  and  make  His  pres- 
ence a  reality.  God  will  take  His  place  as  God 
in  the  presence  of  His  child,  so  that  absolutely  and 
actually  the  chief  thing  in  the  child's  heart  shall 
be:  ''God  is  here,  God  makes  Himself  known." 
Beloved,  is  not  this  what  you  long  for  —  that  God 
shall  take  a  place  that  He  has  never  had;  and  that 
God  shall  come  to  you  in  a  nearness  that  you 
have  never  felt  yet;  and,  above  ail,  that  God  shall 
come  to  you  in  an  abiding  and  unbroken  fellow- 
ship? God  is  able  to  take  His  place  before  you 
all  the  day.  I  repeat  what  I  have  referred  to  be- 
fore, because  God  has  taught  me  a  lesson  by  it: 
As  God  made  the  light  of  the  sun  so  soft,  and 
sweet,  and  bright,  and  universal,  and  unceasing, 
that  it  never  costs  me  a  minute's  trouble  to  enjoy 
it;  even  so,  and  far  more  real  than  the  light 
shining  upon  me,  the  nearness  of  my  God  can  be 
revealed  to  me  as  my  abiding  portion.  Let  us  all 
pray  ''that  God  may  be  all  in  all,"  in  our  every- 
day life. 

"That  God  may  be  all  in  all,"  I  must  not  only 
allow  Him  to  take  His  place,  but  secondly,  I  must 
accept   His   will    in  everything.      I    must    accept 


TIL  I T  GOD  MA  Y  BE  ALL  LV  ALL  173 

His  will  in  every  providence.  Whether  it  be  a  Judas 
that  betrays,  or  whether  it  be  a  Pilate  in  his  in- 
difference, who  gives  me  up  to  the  enemy;  what- 
ever the  trouble,  or  temptation,  or  vexation,  or 
worry,  that  comes,  I  must  see  God  in  it,  and  ac- 
cept it  as  God's  will  to  me.  Trouble  of  any  sort 
that  comes  to  me  is  God's  will  for  me.  It  is  not 
God's  will  that  men  should  do  the  wrong,  but  it 
is  God's  will  that  they  should  be  in  circumstances  of 
trial.  There  is  never  a  trial  that  comes  to  us  but 
it  is  God's  will  for  us,  and  if  we  learn  to  see  God 
in  it,  then  we  bid  it  welcome. 

Suppose  away  in  South  Africa  there  is  a 
woman  whose  husband  has  gone  on  a  long 
journey  into  the  interior.  He  is  to  be  away 
for  months  from  all  posts.  The  wife  is  anx- 
ious to  receive  news.  In  weeks  she  has  had 
no  letter  or  tidings  from  him.  One  da}^  as  she 
stands  in  her  door,  there  comes  a  great,  sav- 
age Kafir.  He  is  frightful  in  appearance,  and  car- 
ries his  spears  and  shield.  The  woman  is  alarmed 
and  rushes  into  the  house  and  closes  the  door.  He 
comes  and  knocks  at  the  door,  and  she  is  in  terror. 
She  sends  her  servant,  who  comes  back  and  says, 
"The  man  says  he  must  see  you."  She  goes,  all 
affrighted.  He  takes  out  an  old  newspaper.  He 
has  come  a  month's  journey  on  foot  from  her  hus- 
band, and  inside  the  dirty  newspaper  is  a  letter 
from  her  husband,  telling^  her  of  his  welfare. 
How  that  wife  delights  in  that  letter!     She  forgets 


174        THA  T  GOD  MA  V  BE  ALL  IN  ALL 

the  face  that  has  terrified  her.  And  now  as  weeks 
are  passing  awa}^  again,  how  she  begins  to  long 
for  that  ugly  Kafir  messenger!  After  long  wait- 
ing he  comes  again,  and  this  time  she  rushes  out 
to  meet  him  because  he  is  the  messenger  that 
comes  from  her  beloved  husband,  and  she  knows 
that  with  all  his  repelling  exterior,  he  is  the  bearer 
of  a  message  of  love.  Beloved,  have  you  learned 
to  look  at  tribulation,  and  vexation,  and  disap- 
pointment, as  the  dark,  savage-looking  messenger 
with  a  spear  in  his  hand,  that  comes  straight  from 
Jesus?  Have  3^ou  learned  to  say,  "There  is  never 
a  trouble,  and  never  a  hurt  by  which  my  heart  is 
touched  or  even  pierced,  but  it  comes  from  Jesus, 
and  brings  a  message  of  love?"  Will  you  not  learn 
to  say  from  to-day,  "Welcome  every  trial,  for  it 
comes  from  God  ?■ '  If  you  want  God  to  be  all  in  all, 
you  must  see  and  meet  God  in  every  providence. 
Oh, learn  to  accept  God's  will  in  everything!  Come 
learn  to  say  of  every  trial,  without  exception,  "It  is 
my  Father  who  sent  it.  I  accept  it  as  His  messen- 
ger," and  nothing  in  earth  or  hell  can  separate 
you  from  God. 

If  God  is  to  be  all  in  all  in  your  heart  and  life, 
I  say  not  only,  Allow  Him  to  take  His  place, 
and  accept  all  His  will,  but,  thirdly,  Trust  in  His 
pov;er.  Dear  friends,  it  is  "God  who  workeih 
to  will  and  to  do  according  to  His  good  pleasure," 
'It  is  "the   God   of    peace,"  according  to  another 


77/.  /  T  GOD  MA  Y  P>E  ALL  I.Y .  ILL  i;:, 

passage,  "  who  perfects  you  in  every  good  thing 
to  do  His  will,  working-  in  you  what  is  well-pleas- 
ing in  His  sight."  You  complain  of  weakness,  of 
feebleness,  of  emptiness.  Nevermind;  that  is  what 
you  are  made  for  —  to  be  an  emptied  vessel,  in 
which  God  can  put  His  fullness  and  His  s'rength. 
Do  learn  the  lesson.  I  know  it  is  not  eas}^  Long 
after  Paul  had  been  an  apostle,  the  Lord  Jesus 
had  to  come  in  a  very  special  way  to  teach  him  to 
say,  "I  do  gladly  glor3'  in  my  infirmities."  Paul 
was  in  danger  of  being  exalted,  owing  to  the  reve- 
lations from  Heaven,  and  Jesus  sent  him  a  thorn 
in  the  flesh  —  yes,  Jesus  sent  it  —  a  messenger  of 
Satan  —  to  buffet  him.  Paul  prayed,  and  struggled, 
and  wanted  to  get  rid  of  it.  And  Jesus  came  to 
him,  and  said,  "It  is  my  doing  that  you  may  not 
be  free  from  that.  You  need  it.  I  will  bless  you 
wonderfully  in  it."  Paul's  life  was  changed  from 
that  moment  in  this  one  respect,  and  he  said,  "I 
never  knew  it  so  before,  from  henceforth  I  glory 
in  my  infirmities;  for  when  I  am  weak,  then  am  I 
strong."  Do  you  indeed  desire  God  to  be  all  in 
all?  Learn  to  glory  in  your  weakness.  Take 
time  to  say  every  day  as  3'ou  bow  before  God, 
•'The  almighty  power  of  God  that  works  in  the 
sun,  and  the  moon,  and  the  stars,  and  the  flowers, 
is  working  in  me.  It  is  as  sure  as  that  I  live.  The 
almighty  power  of  God  is  working  in  me.  I  only 
need  to  get  down,  and  be  quiet;  I  need  to  be  more 


176        THA  T  GOD  MA  Y  BE  ALL  IN  ALL 

submissive,  and  surrendered  to  His  will;  I  need  to 
be  more  trustful,  and  to  allow  God  to  do  with  me 
what  He  will."  Give  God  His  way  with  3'ou,  and 
let  God  work,  and  He  will  work  mightily.  The 
deepest  quietness  has  often  been  proved  to  be  the 
inspiration  for  the  highest  action.  It  has  been 
seen  in  the  experience  of  many  of  God's  saints, 
and  it  is  just  the  experience  we  need, — that  in  the 
quietness  of  surrender  and  faith,  God's  working 
has  been  made  manifest. 

Fourthly:  If  God  is  to  be  all  in  all,  sacrifice 
everything  for  His  kingdom  and  glory.  "That  God 
may  be  all  in  all."  This  is  such  a  noble,  glorious, 
holy  aim  that  Christ  said,  "For  this  I  will  give 
my  life.  For  this  I  will  give  m}^  all,  even  to  the 
death  of  the  cross.  For  this  I  will  give  myself." 
If  it  was  worth  that  to  Christ,  is  it  worth  less  to 
you?  If  one  had  asked  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  "What 
is  it  Thou  hast  a  body  for;  what  is  to  Thee  the 
highest  use  of  the  body  ?"  He  would  have  said, 
"The  use  and  the  glory  of  my  body  is  that  I  can 
give  it  a  sacrifice  to  God.  That  is  everything." 
What  is  the  use  of  having  a  mind ;  and  what  is  the 
use  of  having  money;  and  what  is  the  use  of  hav- 
ing children?  That  I  can  give  them  to  God;  for 
God  must  be  all  in  all  in  everything.  I  pray  God 
that  He  may  give  us  such  a  sight  of  His  kingdom, 
and  His  glory,  that  everything  else  may  di^rp- 
pear.     Then,  if  you  had  ten   thousand    lives,  yor; 


THA  T  GOD  MA  Y  BE  ALL  IN  ALL  177 

would  say,  ''This  is  the  beauty  and  the  worth  of 
life,  'that  God  may  be  all  in  all'  to  me,  and  that  I 
may  prove  to  men  that  God  is  more  than  every- 
thing, that  life  is  only  worth  living  as  it  is  given 
to  God  to  fill."  Do  let  us  sacrifice  everything  for 
His  kingdom  and  glory.  Begin  to  live  day  by 
day  with  the  prayer,  ''My  God,  I  am  given  up 
to  Thee.  Be  Thou  my  all  in  all."  You  say,  "Am 
I  able  to  realize  that?"  Yes,  in  this  way:  Let  the 
Holy  Spirit  dwell  in  you;  let  the  Holy  Spirit  burn 
in  you  as  a  fire,  and  burn  in  you  with  unutterable 
groanings,  crying  unto  God,  Himself  to  reveal 
His  presence  and  His  will  in  you.  In  the  eighth 
of  Romans,  Paul  spoke  about  the  groanings  of  the 
whole  creation.  And  what  is  the  whole  creation 
groaning  for?  For  the  redemption,  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  And  I  am  per- 
suaded that  was  what  Paul  meant  when  he  spoke 
of  the  groanings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  —  the  unutter- 
able groanings  for  the  coming  time  of  glory 
when  God  should  be  all  in  all.  Christians,  sacri- 
fice your  time;  sacrifice  your  interests;  sacrifice 
your  heart's  best  powers  in  praying,  and  desiring, 
and  crying  that  "God  may  be  all  in  all." 

And  lastly:  if  God  is  to  be  all  in  all,  wait  con- 
tinually on  Him  all  the  day.  My  first  point  had 
reference  to  giving  God  His  place;  but  I  want  to 
bring  this  out  more  pointedly  in  conclusion.  Wait 
continually  on  God  all  the  day.     If  you  are  to  do 


178  THAT  GOD  MAY  BE  ALL  IN  ALL 

that,  you  must  live  always  in  His  presence.  That 
is  what  we  have  been  redeemed  for.  Do  we  not 
read  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  "Let  us  draw 
near  within  the  veil,  through  the  blood,  where  the 
high  priest  is?"  The  holy  place  in  which  we  are 
to  live  in  the  heavens  is  the  immediate  presence 
of  God.  The  abiding  presence  of  God  is  cer- 
tainly the  heritage  of  every  child  of  God,  as  that 
the  sun  shines.  The  Father  never  hides  His  face 
from  His  child.  Sin  hides  it,  and  unbelief  hides  it, 
but  the  Father  lets  His  love  shine  all  the  day  on 
the  face  of  His  children.  The  sun  is  shining  day 
and  night.  Your  sun  shall  never  go  down.  Be- 
gin to  seek  for  this.  Come  and  live  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God.  There  is  indeed  an  abiding  place 
in  His  presence,  in  the  secret  of  His  pavilion,  of 
which  some  one  has  sung  very  beautifully: 

With  me,  wheresce'er  I  wander, 

That  great  Presence  goes; 
That  unutterable  gladness, 

Undisturbed  repose. 
Everywhere,  the  blessed  stillness 

Of  that  Holy  Place; 
Stillness  of  the  love  that  worships, 

Dumb  before  His  face. 

This  is  the  portion  of  those  to  Vv'hom  the  prayer 
is  granted  —  "One  thing  have  I  desired  of  the 
Lord,  and  that  will  I  seek  after;  that  I  may  dwell 
all  my  days  in  the  house  of  the  Lord;  to  behold 
the  beauty  of  the  Lord,  and  to  inquire  in  His  tern- 


Til  A  T  GOD  MA  Y  BE  ALL  l.V  .  ILL  ^  70 

pie."  "In  the  secret  of  His  pavilion  lie  hideth 
me."  God  Himself  will  take  you  up,  and  will 
keep  you  there,  so  that  all  your  work  shall  be 
done  in  God,  Beloved,  wait  continually  upon 
God.  You  can  not  do  this  unless  you  are  in  His 
presence.  You  must  live  in  His  presence.  Then 
the  blessed  habit  of  waiting  upon  God  will  be 
learned.  The  real  difficulty  of  getting  to  the  point 
of  real  waiting  upon  God,  is  because  most  Chris- 
tians have  not  sought  to  realize  the  nearness  of 
God,  and  to  give  God  the  first  place.  But  let  us 
strive  after  this,  let  us  trust  God  to  give  it  to  us  by 
His  grace,  let  us  wait  on  God  all  the  day.  "My 
eyes,"  says  one,  "are  ever  towards  Tliec."  Wait 
upon  God  for  guidance,  and  God,  if  you  wait 
much  upon  Him,  will  lead  you  up  into  new  power 
for  His  service,  into  new  gladness  in  His  fellow- 
ship. He  will  lead  you  out  into  a  larger  trust  in 
Him;  He  will  prepare  you  to  expect  new  tilings 
from  Him.  Beloved,  there  is  no  knowing  what 
God  will  do  for  a  man  who  is  utterly  given  up  to 
Him.  Praise  His  name!  Let  each  one  of  us  say, 
"May  my  life  be  to  live  and  die,  to  labor  and  to 
pray  continually  for  this  one  thing:  that  in  me, 
and  around  me,  and  in  the  church;  that  through- 
out the  world  'God  may  be  all  in  all.'  "  A  little 
seed  is  the  beginning  of  a  great  tree.  A  mustard 
seed  becomes  a  tree  in  which  the  birds  of  the  air 
can   nestle.     That   great   day  of  which    the    text 


180         THA  T  GOD  MA  Y  BE  ALL  IN  ALL 

speaks,  when  Christ  Himself  shall  be  subject  to 
the  Father,  and  deliver  up  the  Kingdom  to  the 
Father,  and  God  shall  be  all  in  all  —  that  is  the 
great  tree  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  reaching  its 
perfect  consummation  and  glory.  Oh,  let  us  take 
the  seed  of  that  glory  into  our  hearts,  and  let  us 
bow  in  lowly  surrender  and  submission,  and  say, 
"Amen,  Lord;  this  be  my  one  thought.  This  be 
my  life  —  to  speak  and  to  work,  to  pray  and  to 
exist  only  that  others  may  be  brought  to  know 
Him  too.  This  be  my  life  —  to  yield  myself  to 
the  unutterable  yearnings  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  tha^ 
I  may  not  rest,  but  ever  keep  my  eye  on  that  da}^ 
—  the  day  of  glory,  when  in  very  deed  God  shall 
be  all  in  all," 

God  help  every  one  of  us.  God  help  us  all  ti 
yield  ourselves  to  Him,  and  to  Christ,  and  t6 
make  it  our  every-day  life;  for  His  name's  sake. 
Amen. 


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